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chapter istart in life i was born in the year 1632, in the city ofyork, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner ofbremen, who settled first at hull. he got a good estate by merchandise, andleaving off his trade, lived afterwards at york, from whence he had married my mother,whose relations were named robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom i was called robinson kreutznaer; but, bythe usual corruption of words in england, we are now called-nay we call ourselves andwrite our name-crusoe; and so my companions always called me.

i had two elder brothers, one of whom waslieutenant-colonel to an english regiment of foot in flanders, formerly commanded bythe famous colonel lockhart, and was killed at the battle near dunkirk against thespaniards. what became of my second brother i neverknew, any more than my father or mother knew what became of me. being the third son of the family and notbred to any trade, my head began to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. my father, who was very ancient, had givenme a competent share of learning, as far as house-education and a country free schoolgenerally go, and designed me for the law;

but i would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to thisled me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father, and against allthe entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity ofnature, tending directly to the life of misery which was to befall me. my father, a wise and grave man, gave meserious and excellent counsel against what he foresaw was my design. he called me one morning into his chamber,where he was confined by the gout, and

expostulated very warmly with me upon thissubject. he asked me what reasons, more than a merewandering inclination, i had for leaving father's house and my native country, wherei might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry, with a life ofease and pleasure. he told me it was men of desperate fortuneson one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad uponadventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that thesethings were all either too far above me or

too far below me; that mine was the middlestate, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found, by long experience, was the best state in theworld, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships,the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy ofthe upper part of mankind. he told me i might judge of the happinessof this state by this one thing-viz. that this was the state of life which all otherpeople envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being

born to great things, and wished they hadbeen placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great;that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when heprayed to have neither poverty nor riches. he bade me observe it, and i should alwaysfind that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part ofmankind, but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher orlower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers anduneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury,

and extravagances on the one hand, or byhard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand,bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life wascalculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plentywere the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions,and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station oflife; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably

out of it, not embarrassed with the laboursof the hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for daily bread, norharassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace and the body of rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy,or the secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but, in easy circumstances,sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter; feeling that they arehappy, and learning by every day's experience to know it more sensibly. after this he pressed me earnestly, and inthe most affectionate manner, not to play

the young man, nor to precipitate myselfinto miseries which nature, and the station of life i was born in, seemed to have provided against; that i was under nonecessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well for me, and endeavour toenter me fairly into the station of life which he had just been recommending to me; and that if i was not very easy and happyin the world, it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it; and that heshould have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty in warning me against measures which he knew would be tomy hurt; in a word, that as he would do

very kind things for me if i would stay andsettle at home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes as to give me any encouragement to go away;and to close all, he told me i had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had usedthe same earnest persuasions to keep him from going into the low country wars, but could not prevail, his young desiresprompting him to run into the army, where he was killed; and though he said he wouldnot cease to pray for me, yet he would venture to say to me, that if i did take this foolish step, god would not bless me,and i should have leisure hereafter to

reflect upon having neglected his counselwhen there might be none to assist in my recovery. i observed in this last part of hisdiscourse, which was truly prophetic, though i suppose my father did not know itto be so himself-i say, i observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, especially when he spoke of my brother whowas killed: and that when he spoke of my having leisure to repent, and none toassist me, he was so moved that he broke off the discourse, and told me his heartwas so full he could say no more to me. i was sincerely affected with thisdiscourse, and, indeed, who could be

otherwise? and i resolved not to think ofgoing abroad any more, but to settle at home according to my father's desire. but alas! a few days wore it all off; and,in short, to prevent any of my father's further importunities, in a few weeks afteri resolved to run quite away from him. however, i did not act quite so hastily asthe first heat of my resolution prompted; but i took my mother at a time when ithought her a little more pleasant than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon seeing the worldthat i should never settle to anything with resolution enough to go through with it,and my father had better give me his

consent than force me to go without it; that i was now eighteen years old, whichwas too late to go apprentice to a trade or clerk to an attorney; that i was sure if idid i should never serve out my time, but i should certainly run away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; andif she would speak to my father to let me go one voyage abroad, if i came home again,and did not like it, i would go no more; and i would promise, by a double diligence,to recover the time that i had lost. this put my mother into a great passion;she told me she knew it would be to no purpose to speak to my father upon any suchsubject; that he knew too well what was my

interest to give his consent to anything so much for my hurt; and that she wondered howi could think of any such thing after the discourse i had had with my father, andsuch kind and tender expressions as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if i would ruin myself, there was nohelp for me; but i might depend i should never have their consent to it; that forher part she would not have so much hand in my destruction; and i should never have it to say that my mother was willing when myfather was not. though my mother refused to move it to myfather, yet i heard afterwards that she

reported all the discourse to him, and thatmy father, after showing a great concern at it, said to her, with a sigh, "that boy might be happy if he would stay at home;but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that ever was born: i cangive no consent to it." it was not till almost a year after thisthat i broke loose, though, in the meantime, i continued obstinately deaf toall proposals of settling to business, and frequently expostulated with my father and mother about their being so positivelydetermined against what they knew my inclinations prompted me to.

but being one day at hull, where i wentcasually, and without any purpose of making an elopement at that time; but, i say,being there, and one of my companions being about to sail to london in his father's ship, and prompting me to go with them withthe common allurement of seafaring men, that it should cost me nothing for mypassage, i consulted neither father nor mother any more, nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving them to hear of itas they might, without asking god's blessing or my father's, without anyconsideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill hour, god

knows, on the 1st of september 1651, i wenton board a ship bound for london. never any young adventurer's misfortunes, ibelieve, began sooner, or continued longer than mine. the ship was no sooner out of the humberthan the wind began to blow and the sea to rise in a most frightful manner; and, as ihad never been at sea before, i was most inexpressibly sick in body and terrified inmind. i began now seriously to reflect upon whati had done, and how justly i was overtaken by the judgment of heaven for my wickedleaving my father's house, and abandoning my duty.

all the good counsels of my parents, myfather's tears and my mother's entreaties, came now fresh into my mind; and myconscience, which was not yet come to the pitch of hardness to which it has since, reproached me with the contempt of advice,and the breach of my duty to god and my father. all this while the storm increased, and thesea went very high, though nothing like what i have seen many times since; no, norwhat i saw a few days after; but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had never known anythingof the matter.

i expected every wave would have swallowedus up, and that every time the ship fell down, as i thought it did, in the trough orhollow of the sea, we should never rise more; in this agony of mind, i made many vows and resolutions that if it wouldplease god to spare my life in this one voyage, if ever i got once my foot upon dryland again, i would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again while i lived; that i would take hisadvice, and never run myself into such miseries as these any more. now i saw plainly the goodness of hisobservations about the middle station of

life, how easy, how comfortably he hadlived all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles on shore; and i resolved that i would, like atrue repenting prodigal, go home to my these wise and sober thoughts continued allthe while the storm lasted, and indeed some time after; but the next day the wind wasabated, and the sea calmer, and i began to be a little inured to it; however, i was very grave for all that day, being also alittle sea-sick still; but towards night the weather cleared up, the wind was quiteover, and a charming fine evening followed; the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose

so the next morning; and having little orno wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining upon it, the sight was, as i thought, themost delightful that ever i saw. i had slept well in the night, and was nowno more sea-sick, but very cheerful, looking with wonder upon the sea that wasso rough and terrible the day before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in solittle a time after. and now, lest my good resolutions shouldcontinue, my companion, who had enticed me away, comes to me; "well, bob," says he,clapping me upon the shoulder, "how do you do after it? i warrant you were frighted, wer'n't you,last night, when it blew but a capful of

wind?" "a capful d'you call it?" said i;"'twas a terrible storm." "a storm, you fool you," replies he; "do you call that a storm? why, it was nothing at all; give usbut a good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as that;but you're but a fresh-water sailor, bob. come, let us make a bowl of punch, andwe'll forget all that; d'ye see what charming weather 'tis now?" to make shortthis sad part of my story, we went the way of all sailors; the punch was made and i was made half drunk with it: and in thatone night's wickedness i drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my pastconduct, all my resolutions for the future.

in a word, as the sea was returned to itssmoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that storm, so thehurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current ofmy former desires returned, i entirely forgot the vows and promises that i made inmy distress. i found, indeed, some intervals ofreflection; and the serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return againsometimes; but i shook them off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper, and applying myself to drinkingand company, soon mastered the return of

those fits-for so i called them; and i hadin five or six days got as complete a victory over conscience as any young fellow that resolved not to be troubled with itcould desire. but i was to have another trial for itstill; and providence, as in such cases generally it does, resolved to leave meentirely without excuse; for if i would not take this for a deliverance, the next was to be such a one as the worst and mosthardened wretch among us would confess both the danger and the mercy of. the sixth day of our being at sea we cameinto yarmouth roads; the wind having been

contrary and the weather calm, we had madebut little way since the storm. here we were obliged to come to an anchor,and here we lay, the wind continuing contrary-viz. at south-west-for seven oreight days, during which time a great many ships from newcastle came into the same roads, as the common harbour where theships might wait for a wind for the river. we had not, however, rid here so long butwe should have tided it up the river, but that the wind blew too fresh, and after wehad lain four or five days, blew very hard. however, the roads being reckoned as goodas a harbour, the anchorage good, and our ground-tackle very strong, our men wereunconcerned, and not in the least

apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest and mirth, after the manner of thesea; but the eighth day, in the morning, the wind increased, and we had all hands atwork to strike our topmasts, and make everything snug and close, that the shipmight ride as easy as possible. by noon the sea went very high indeed, andour ship rode forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twiceour anchor had come home; upon which our master ordered out the sheet-anchor, so that we rode with two anchors ahead, andthe cables veered out to the bitter end. by this time it blew a terrible stormindeed; and now i began to see terror and

amazement in the faces even of the seamenthemselves. the master, though vigilant in the businessof preserving the ship, yet as he went in and out of his cabin by me, i could hearhim softly to himself say, several times, "lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost! we shall be all undone!" and thelike. during these first hurries i was stupid,lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper: icould ill resume the first penitence which i had so apparently trampled upon and hardened myself against: i thought thebitterness of death had been past, and that

this would be nothing like the first; butwhen the master himself came by me, as i said just now, and said we should be alllost, i was dreadfully frighted. i got up out of my cabin and looked out;but such a dismal sight i never saw: the sea ran mountains high, and broke upon usevery three or four minutes; when i could look about, i could see nothing but distress round us; two ships that rode nearus, we found, had cut their masts by the board, being deep laden; and our men criedout that a ship which rode about a mile ahead of us was foundered. two more ships, being driven from theiranchors, were run out of the roads to sea,

at all adventures, and that with not a maststanding. the light ships fared the best, as not somuch labouring in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us,running away with only their spritsail out before the wind. towards evening the mate and boatswainbegged the master of our ship to let them cut away the fore-mast, which he was veryunwilling to do; but the boatswain protesting to him that if he did not the ship would founder, he consented; and whenthey had cut away the fore-mast, the main- mast stood so loose, and shook the ship somuch, they were obliged to cut that away

also, and make a clear deck. any one may judge what a condition i mustbe in at all this, who was but a young sailor, and who had been in such a frightbefore at but a little. but if i can express at this distance thethoughts i had about me at that time, i was in tenfold more horror of mind upon accountof my former convictions, and the having returned from them to the resolutions i had wickedly taken at first, than i was atdeath itself; and these, added to the terror of the storm, put me into such acondition that i can by no words describe it.

but the worst was not come yet; the stormcontinued with such fury that the seamen themselves acknowledged they had never seena worse. we had a good ship, but she was deep laden,and wallowed in the sea, so that the seamen every now and then cried out she wouldfounder. it was my advantage in one respect, that idid not know what they meant by founder till i inquired. however, the storm was so violent that isaw, what is not often seen, the master, the boatswain, and some others moresensible than the rest, at their prayers, and expecting every moment when the shipwould go to the bottom.

in the middle of the night, and under allthe rest of our distresses, one of the men that had been down to see cried out we hadsprung a leak; another said there was four feet water in the hold. then all hands were called to the pump.at that word, my heart, as i thought, died within me: and i fell backwards upon theside of my bed where i sat, into the cabin. however, the men roused me, and told methat i, that was able to do nothing before, was as well able to pump as another; atwhich i stirred up and went to the pump, and worked very heartily. while this was doing the master, seeingsome light colliers, who, not able to ride

out the storm were obliged to slip and runaway to sea, and would come near us, ordered to fire a gun as a signal ofdistress. i, who knew nothing what they meant,thought the ship had broken, or some dreadful thing happened. in a word, i was so surprised that i felldown in a swoon. as this was a time when everybody had hisown life to think of, nobody minded me, or what was become of me; but another manstepped up to the pump, and thrusting me aside with his foot, let me lie, thinking i had been dead; and it was a great whilebefore i came to myself.

we worked on; but the water increasing inthe hold, it was apparent that the ship would founder; and though the storm beganto abate a little, yet it was not possible she could swim till we might run into any port; so the master continued firing gunsfor help; and a light ship, who had rid it out just ahead of us, ventured a boat outto help us. it was with the utmost hazard the boat camenear us; but it was impossible for us to get on board, or for the boat to lie nearthe ship's side, till at last the men rowing very heartily, and venturing their lives to save ours, our men cast them arope over the stern with a buoy to it, and

then veered it out a great length, whichthey, after much labour and hazard, took hold of, and we hauled them close under ourstern, and got all into their boat. it was to no purpose for them or us, afterwe were in the boat, to think of reaching their own ship; so all agreed to let herdrive, and only to pull her in towards shore as much as we could; and our master promised them, that if the boat was stavedupon shore, he would make it good to their master: so partly rowing and partlydriving, our boat went away to the northward, sloping towards the shore almostas far as winterton ness. we were not much more than a quarter of anhour out of our ship till we saw her sink,

and then i understood for the first timewhat was meant by a ship foundering in the sea. i must acknowledge i had hardly eyes tolook up when the seamen told me she was sinking; for from the moment that theyrather put me into the boat than that i might be said to go in, my heart was, as it were, dead within me, partly with fright,partly with horror of mind, and the thoughts of what was yet before me. while we were in this condition-the men yetlabouring at the oar to bring the boat near the shore-we could see (when, our boatmounting the waves, we were able to see the

shore) a great many people running along the strand to assist us when we should comenear; but we made but slow way towards the shore; nor were we able to reach the shoretill, being past the lighthouse at winterton, the shore falls off to the westward towards cromer, and so the landbroke off a little the violence of the wind. here we got in, and though not without muchdifficulty, got all safe on shore, and walked afterwards on foot to yarmouth,where, as unfortunate men, we were used with great humanity, as well by the

magistrates of the town, who assigned usgood quarters, as by particular merchants and owners of ships, and had money given ussufficient to carry us either to london or back to hull as we thought fit. had i now had the sense to have gone backto hull, and have gone home, i had been happy, and my father, as in our blessedsaviour's parable, had even killed the fatted calf for me; for hearing the ship i went away in was cast away in yarmouthroads, it was a great while before he had any assurances that i was not drowned. but my ill fate pushed me on now with anobstinacy that nothing could resist; and

though i had several times loud calls frommy reason and my more composed judgment to go home, yet i had no power to do it. i know not what to call this, nor will iurge that it is a secret overruling decree, that hurries us on to be the instruments ofour own destruction, even though it be before us, and that we rush upon it withour eyes open. certainly, nothing but some such decreedunavoidable misery, which it was impossible for me to escape, could have pushed meforward against the calm reasonings and persuasions of my most retired thoughts, and against two such visible instructionsas i had met with in my first attempt.

my comrade, who had helped to harden mebefore, and who was the master's son, was now less forward than i. the first time he spoke to me after we wereat yarmouth, which was not till two or three days, for we were separated in thetown to several quarters; i say, the first time he saw me, it appeared his tone was altered; and, looking very melancholy, andshaking his head, he asked me how i did, and telling his father who i was, and how ihad come this voyage only for a trial, in order to go further abroad, his father, turning to me with a very grave andconcerned tone "young man," says he, "you

ought never to go to sea any more; youought to take this for a plain and visible token that you are not to be a seafaring man." "why, sir," said i, "will you go tosea no more?" "that is another case," said he; "it is my calling, and therefore myduty; but as you made this voyage on trial, you see what a taste heaven has given youof what you are to expect if you persist. perhaps this has all befallen us on youraccount, like jonah in the ship of tarshish. pray," continues he, "what are you; and onwhat account did you go to sea?" upon that i told him some of my story; at the end ofwhich he burst out into a strange kind of

passion: "what had i done," says he, "that such an unhappy wretch should come into myship? i would not set my foot in the same shipwith thee again for a thousand pounds." this indeed was, as i said, an excursion ofhis spirits, which were yet agitated by the sense of his loss, and was farther than hecould have authority to go. however, he afterwards talked very gravelyto me, exhorting me to go back to my father, and not tempt providence to myruin, telling me i might see a visible hand of heaven against me. "and, young man," said he, "depend upon it,if you do not go back, wherever you go, you

will meet with nothing but disasters anddisappointments, till your father's words are fulfilled upon you." we parted soon after; for i made him littleanswer, and i saw him no more; which way he went i knew not. as for me, having some money in my pocket,i travelled to london by land; and there, as well as on the road, had many struggleswith myself what course of life i should take, and whether i should go home or tosea. as to going home, shame opposed the bestmotions that offered to my thoughts, and it immediately occurred to me how i should belaughed at among the neighbours, and should

be ashamed to see, not my father and mother only, but even everybody else; from whencei have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the commontemper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases-viz. that they are not ashamedto sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they oughtjustly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only canmake them be esteemed wise men. in this state of life, however, i remainedsome time, uncertain what measures to take, and what course of life to lead.

an irresistible reluctance continued togoing home; and as i stayed away a while, the remembrance of the distress i had beenin wore off, and as that abated, the little motion i had in my desires to return wore off with it, till at last i quite laidaside the thoughts of it, and looked out for a voyage. > chapter iislavery and escape that evil influence which carried me firstaway from my father's house-which hurried me into the wild and indigested notion ofraising my fortune, and that impressed

those conceits so forcibly upon me as to make me deaf to all good advice, and to theentreaties and even the commands of my father-i say, the same influence, whateverit was, presented the most unfortunate of all enterprises to my view; and i went on board a vessel bound to the coast ofafrica; or, as our sailors vulgarly called it, a voyage to guinea. it was my great misfortune that in allthese adventures i did not ship myself as a sailor; when, though i might indeed haveworked a little harder than ordinary, yet at the same time i should have learnt the

duty and office of a fore-mast man, and intime might have qualified myself for a mate or lieutenant, if not for a master. but as it was always my fate to choose forthe worse, so i did here; for having money in my pocket and good clothes upon my back,i would always go on board in the habit of a gentleman; and so i neither had any business in the ship, nor learned to doany. it was my lot first of all to fall intopretty good company in london, which does not always happen to such loose andmisguided young fellows as i then was; the devil generally not omitting to lay some

snare for them very early; but it was notso with me. i first got acquainted with the master of aship who had been on the coast of guinea; and who, having had very good successthere, was resolved to go again. this captain taking a fancy to myconversation, which was not at all disagreeable at that time, hearing me say ihad a mind to see the world, told me if i would go the voyage with him i should be at no expense; i should be his messmate andhis companion; and if i could carry anything with me, i should have all theadvantage of it that the trade would admit; and perhaps i might meet with someencouragement.

i embraced the offer; and entering into astrict friendship with this captain, who was an honest, plain-dealing man, i wentthe voyage with him, and carried a small adventure with me, which, by the disinterested honesty of my friend thecaptain, i increased very considerably; for i carried about â£40 in such toys andtrifles as the captain directed me to buy. these â£40 i had mustered together by theassistance of some of my relations whom i corresponded with; and who, i believe, gotmy father, or at least my mother, to contribute so much as that to my firstadventure. this was the only voyage which i may saywas successful in all my adventures, which

i owe to the integrity and honesty of myfriend the captain; under whom also i got a competent knowledge of the mathematics and the rules of navigation, learned how tokeep an account of the ship's course, take an observation, and, in short, tounderstand some things that were needful to be understood by a sailor; for, as he took delight to instruct me, i took delight tolearn; and, in a word, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant; for i broughthome five pounds nine ounces of gold-dust for my adventure, which yielded me in london, at my return, almost â£300; and thisfilled me with those aspiring thoughts

which have since so completed my ruin. yet even in this voyage i had mymisfortunes too; particularly, that i was continually sick, being thrown into aviolent calenture by the excessive heat of the climate; our principal trading being upon the coast, from latitude of 15 degreesnorth even to the line itself. i was now set up for a guinea trader; andmy friend, to my great misfortune, dying soon after his arrival, i resolved to gothe same voyage again, and i embarked in the same vessel with one who was his mate in the former voyage, and had now got thecommand of the ship.

this was the unhappiest voyage that everman made; for though i did not carry quite â£100 of my new-gained wealth, so that i hadâ£200 left, which i had lodged with my friend's widow, who was very just to me,yet i fell into terrible misfortunes. the first was this: our ship making hercourse towards the canary islands, or rather between those islands and theafrican shore, was surprised in the grey of the morning by a turkish rover of sallee, who gave chase to us with all the sail shecould make. we crowded also as much canvas as our yardswould spread, or our masts carry, to get clear; but finding the pirate gained uponus, and would certainly come up with us in

a few hours, we prepared to fight; our shiphaving twelve guns, and the rogue eighteen. about three in the afternoon he came upwith us, and bringing to, by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart ourstern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadside upon him, which made himsheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small shot fromnear two hundred men which he had on board. however, we had not a man touched, all ourmen keeping close. he prepared to attack us again, and we todefend ourselves. but laying us on board the next time uponour other quarter, he entered sixty men

upon our decks, who immediately fell tocutting and hacking the sails and rigging. we plied them with small shot, half-pikes,powder-chests, and such like, and cleared our deck of them twice. however, to cut short this melancholy partof our story, our ship being disabled, and three of our men killed, and eight wounded,we were obliged to yield, and were carried all prisoners into sallee, a port belongingto the moors. the usage i had there was not so dreadfulas at first i apprehended; nor was i carried up the country to the emperor'scourt, as the rest of our men were, but was kept by the captain of the rover as his

proper prize, and made his slave, beingyoung and nimble, and fit for his business. at this surprising change of mycircumstances, from a merchant to a miserable slave, i was perfectlyoverwhelmed; and now i looked back upon my father's prophetic discourse to me, that i should be miserable and have none torelieve me, which i thought was now so effectually brought to pass that i couldnot be worse; for now the hand of heaven had overtaken me, and i was undone without redemption; but, alas! this was but a tasteof the misery i was to go through, as will appear in the sequel of this story.

as my new patron, or master, had taken mehome to his house, so i was in hopes that he would take me with him when he went tosea again, believing that it would some time or other be his fate to be taken by a spanish or portugal man-of-war; and thatthen i should be set at liberty. but this hope of mine was soon taken away;for when he went to sea, he left me on shore to look after his little garden, anddo the common drudgery of slaves about his house; and when he came home again from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabinto look after the ship. here i meditated nothing but my escape, andwhat method i might take to effect it, but

found no way that had the least probabilityin it; nothing presented to make the supposition of it rational; for i had nobody to communicate it to that wouldembark with me-no fellow-slave, no englishman, irishman, or scotchman therebut myself; so that for two years, though i often pleased myself with the imagination, yet i never had the least encouragingprospect of putting it in practice. after about two years, an odd circumstancepresented itself, which put the old thought of making some attempt for my liberty againin my head. my patron lying at home longer than usualwithout fitting out his ship, which, as i

heard, was for want of money, he usedconstantly, once or twice a week, sometimes oftener if the weather was fair, to take the ship's pinnace and go out into the roada-fishing; and as he always took me and young maresco with him to row the boat, wemade him very merry, and i proved very dexterous in catching fish; insomuch that sometimes he would send me with a moor, oneof his kinsmen, and the youth-the maresco, as they called him-to catch a dish of fishfor him. it happened one time, that going a-fishingin a calm morning, a fog rose so thick that, though we were not half a league fromthe shore, we lost sight of it; and rowing

we knew not whither or which way, we laboured all day, and all the next night;and when the morning came we found we had pulled off to sea instead of pulling in forthe shore; and that we were at least two leagues from the shore. however, we got well in again, though witha great deal of labour and some danger; for the wind began to blow pretty fresh in themorning; but we were all very hungry. but our patron, warned by this disaster,resolved to take more care of himself for the future; and having lying by him thelongboat of our english ship that he had taken, he resolved he would not go a-

fishing any more without a compass and someprovision; so he ordered the carpenter of his ship, who also was an english slave, tobuild a little state-room, or cabin, in the middle of the long-boat, like that of a barge, with a place to stand behind it tosteer, and haul home the main-sheet; the room before for a hand or two to stand andwork the sails. she sailed with what we call a shoulder-of-mutton sail; and the boom jibed over the top of the cabin, which lay very snug andlow, and had in it room for him to lie, with a slave or two, and a table to eat on, with some small lockers to put in somebottles of such liquor as he thought fit to

drink; and his bread, rice, and coffee. we went frequently out with this boat a-fishing; and as i was most dexterous to catch fish for him, he never went withoutme. it happened that he had appointed to go outin this boat, either for pleasure or for fish, with two or three moors of somedistinction in that place, and for whom he had provided extraordinarily, and had, therefore, sent on board the boat overnighta larger store of provisions than ordinary; and had ordered me to get ready threefusees with powder and shot, which were on board his ship, for that they designed somesport of fowling as well as fishing.

i got all things ready as he had directed,and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out,and everything to accommodate his guests; when by-and-by my patron came on board alone, and told me his guests had put offgoing from some business that fell out, and ordered me, with the man and boy, as usual,to go out with the boat and catch them some fish, for that his friends were to sup at his house, and commanded that as soon as igot some fish i should bring it home to his house; all which i prepared to do. this moment my former notions ofdeliverance darted into my thoughts, for

now i found i was likely to have a littleship at my command; and my master being gone, i prepared to furnish myself, not for fishing business, but for a voyage; thoughi knew not, neither did i so much as consider, whither i should steer-anywhereto get out of that place was my desire. my first contrivance was to make a pretenceto speak to this moor, to get something for our subsistence on board; for i told him wemust not presume to eat of our patron's bread. he said that was true; so he brought alarge basket of rusk or biscuit, and three jars of fresh water, into the boat.

i knew where my patron's case of bottlesstood, which it was evident, by the make, were taken out of some english prize, and iconveyed them into the boat while the moor was on shore, as if they had been therebefore for our master. i conveyed also a great lump of beeswaxinto the boat, which weighed about half a hundred-weight, with a parcel of twine orthread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all of which were of great use to us afterwards, especially the wax, to makecandles. another trick i tried upon him, which heinnocently came into also: his name was ismael, which they call muley, or moely; soi called to him-"moely," said i, "our

patron's guns are on board the boat; canyou not get a little powder and shot? it may be we may kill some alcamies (a fowllike our curlews) for ourselves, for i know he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship.""yes," says he, "i'll bring some;" and accordingly he brought a great leather pouch, which held a pound and a half ofpowder, or rather more; and another with shot, that had five or six pounds, withsome bullets, and put all into the boat. at the same time i had found some powder ofmy master's in the great cabin, with which i filled one of the large bottles in thecase, which was almost empty, pouring what was in it into another; and thus furnished

with everything needful, we sailed out ofthe port to fish. the castle, which is at the entrance of theport, knew who we were, and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out ofthe port before we hauled in our sail and set us down to fish. the wind blew from the n.n.e., which wascontrary to my desire, for had it blown southerly i had been sure to have made thecoast of spain, and at least reached to the bay of cadiz; but my resolutions were, blow which way it would, i would be gone fromthat horrid place where i was, and leave the rest to fate.

after we had fished some time and caughtnothing-for when i had fish on my hook i would not pull them up, that he might notsee them-i said to the moor, "this will not do; our master will not be thus served; we must stand farther off." he, thinking noharm, agreed, and being in the head of the boat, set the sails; and, as i had thehelm, i ran the boat out near a league farther, and then brought her to, as if i would fish; when, giving the boy the helm,i stepped forward to where the moor was, and making as if i stooped for somethingbehind him, i took him by surprise with my arm under his waist, and tossed him clearoverboard into the sea.

he rose immediately, for he swam like acork, and called to me, begged to be taken in, told me he would go all over the worldwith me. he swam so strong after the boat that hewould have reached me very quickly, there being but little wind; upon which i steppedinto the cabin, and fetching one of the fowling-pieces, i presented it at him, and told him i had done him no hurt, and if hewould be quiet i would do him none. "but," said i, "you swim well enough toreach to the shore, and the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and iwill do you no harm; but if you come near the boat i'll shoot you through the head,

for i am resolved to have my liberty;" sohe turned himself about, and swam for the shore, and i make no doubt but he reachedit with ease, for he was an excellent swimmer. i could have been content to have takenthis moor with me, and have drowned the boy, but there was no venturing to trusthim. when he was gone, i turned to the boy, whomthey called xury, and said to him, "xury, if you will be faithful to me, i'll makeyou a great man; but if you will not stroke your face to be true to me"-that is, swear by mahomet and his father's beard-"i mustthrow you into the sea too." the boy

smiled in my face, and spoke so innocentlythat i could not distrust him, and swore to be faithful to me, and go all over theworld with me. while i was in view of the moor that wasswimming, i stood out directly to sea with the boat, rather stretching to windward,that they might think me gone towards the straits' mouth (as indeed any one that had been in their wits must have been supposedto do): for who would have supposed we were sailed on to the southward, to the trulybarbarian coast, where whole nations of negroes were sure to surround us with their canoes and destroy us; where we could notgo on shore but we should be devoured by

savage beasts, or more merciless savages ofhuman kind. but as soon as it grew dusk in the evening,i changed my course, and steered directly south and by east, bending my course alittle towards the east, that i might keep in with the shore; and having a fair, fresh gale of wind, and a smooth, quiet sea, imade such sail that i believe by the next day, at three o'clock in the afternoon,when i first made the land, i could not be less than one hundred and fifty miles south of sallee; quite beyond the emperor ofmorocco's dominions, or indeed of any other king thereabouts, for we saw no people.

yet such was the fright i had taken of themoors, and the dreadful apprehensions i had of falling into their hands, that i wouldnot stop, or go on shore, or come to an anchor; the wind continuing fair till i had sailed in that manner five days; and thenthe wind shifting to the southward, i concluded also that if any of our vesselswere in chase of me, they also would now give over; so i ventured to make to the coast, and came to an anchor in the mouthof a little river, i knew not what, nor where, neither what latitude, what country,what nation, or what river. i neither saw, nor desired to see anypeople; the principal thing i wanted was

fresh water. we came into this creek in the evening,resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was dark, and discover the country; but assoon as it was quite dark, we heard such dreadful noises of the barking, roaring, and howling of wild creatures, of we knewnot what kinds, that the poor boy was ready to die with fear, and begged of me not togo on shore till day. "well, xury," said i, "then i won't; but itmay be that we may see men by day, who will be as bad to us as those lions." "then wegive them the shoot gun," says xury, laughing, "make them run wey." such

english xury spoke by conversing among usslaves. however, i was glad to see the boy socheerful, and i gave him a dram (out of our patron's case of bottles) to cheer him up. after all, xury's advice was good, and itook it; we dropped our little anchor, and lay still all night; i say still, for weslept none; for in two or three hours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them) of many sorts, come down tothe sea-shore and run into the water, wallowing and washing themselves for thepleasure of cooling themselves; and they made such hideous howlings and yellings,that i never indeed heard the like.

xury was dreadfully frighted, and indeed sowas i too; but we were both more frighted when we heard one of these mighty creaturescome swimming towards our boat; we could not see him, but we might hear him by his blowing to be a monstrous huge and furiousbeast. xury said it was a lion, and it might be sofor aught i know; but poor xury cried to me to weigh the anchor and row away; "no,"says i, "xury; we can slip our cable, with the buoy to it, and go off to sea; they cannot follow us far." i had no soonersaid so, but i perceived the creature (whatever it was) within two oars' length,which something surprised me; however, i

immediately stepped to the cabin door, and taking up my gun, fired at him; upon whichhe immediately turned about and swam towards the shore again. but it is impossible to describe the horridnoises, and hideous cries and howlings that were raised, as well upon the edge of theshore as higher within the country, upon the noise or report of the gun, a thing i have some reason to believe those creatureshad never heard before: this convinced me that there was no going on shore for us inthe night on that coast, and how to venture on shore in the day was another question

too; for to have fallen into the hands ofany of the savages had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of the lions andtigers; at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it. be that as it would, we were obliged to goon shore somewhere or other for water, for we had not a pint left in the boat; whenand where to get to it was the point. xury said, if i would let him go on shorewith one of the jars, he would find if there was any water, and bring some to me.i asked him why he would go? why i should not go, and he stay in the boat? the boy answered with so much affection asmade me love him ever after.

says he, "if wild mans come, they eat me,you go wey." "well, xury," said i, "we will both go and if the wild mans come, wewill kill them, they shall eat neither of us." so i gave xury a piece of rusk bread to eat, and a dram out of our patron's caseof bottles which i mentioned before; and we hauled the boat in as near the shore as wethought was proper, and so waded on shore, carrying nothing but our arms and two jarsfor water. i did not care to go out of sight of theboat, fearing the coming of canoes with savages down the river; but the boy seeinga low place about a mile up the country, rambled to it, and by-and-by i saw him comerunning towards me.

i thought he was pursued by some savage, orfrighted with some wild beast, and i ran forward towards him to help him; but when icame nearer to him i saw something hanging over his shoulders, which was a creature that he had shot, like a hare, butdifferent in colour, and longer legs; however, we were very glad of it, and itwas very good meat; but the great joy that poor xury came with, was to tell me he hadfound good water and seen no wild mans. but we found afterwards that we need nottake such pains for water, for a little higher up the creek where we were we foundthe water fresh when the tide was out, which flowed but a little way up; so we

filled our jars, and feasted on the hare hehad killed, and prepared to go on our way, having seen no footsteps of any humancreature in that part of the country. as i had been one voyage to this coastbefore, i knew very well that the islands of the canaries, and the cape de verdeislands also, lay not far off from the coast. but as i had no instruments to take anobservation to know what latitude we were in, and not exactly knowing, or at leastremembering, what latitude they were in, i knew not where to look for them, or when to stand off to sea towards them; otherwise imight now easily have found some of these

islands. but my hope was, that if i stood along thiscoast till i came to that part where the english traded, i should find some of theirvessels upon their usual design of trade, that would relieve and take us in. by the best of my calculation, that placewhere i now was must be that country which, lying between the emperor of morocco'sdominions and the negroes, lies waste and uninhabited, except by wild beasts; the negroes having abandoned it and gonefarther south for fear of the moors, and the moors not thinking it worth inhabitingby reason of its barrenness; and indeed,

both forsaking it because of the prodigious number of tigers, lions, leopards, andother furious creatures which harbour there; so that the moors use it for theirhunting only, where they go like an army, two or three thousand men at a time; and indeed for near a hundred miles togetherupon this coast we saw nothing but a waste, uninhabited country by day, and heardnothing but howlings and roaring of wild beasts by night. once or twice in the daytime i thought isaw the pico of teneriffe, being the high top of the mountain teneriffe in thecanaries, and had a great mind to venture

out, in hopes of reaching thither; but having tried twice, i was forced in againby contrary winds, the sea also going too high for my little vessel; so, i resolvedto pursue my first design, and keep along the shore. several times i was obliged to land forfresh water, after we had left this place; and once in particular, being early inmorning, we came to an anchor under a little point of land, which was pretty high; and the tide beginning to flow, welay still to go farther in. xury, whose eyes were more about him thanit seems mine were, calls softly to me, and

tells me that we had best go farther offthe shore; "for," says he, "look, yonder lies a dreadful monster on the side of that hillock, fast asleep." i looked where hepointed, and saw a dreadful monster indeed, for it was a terrible, great lion that layon the side of the shore, under the shade of a piece of the hill that hung as it werea little over him. "xury," says i, "you shall on shore andkill him." xury, looked frighted, and said, "me kill! he eat me at one mouth!"-one mouthful he meant. however, i said no more to the boy, butbade him lie still, and i took our biggest gun, which was almost musket-bore, andloaded it with a good charge of powder, and

with two slugs, and laid it down; then i loaded another gun with two bullets; andthe third (for we had three pieces) i loaded with five smaller bullets. i took the best aim i could with the firstpiece to have shot him in the head, but he lay so with his leg raised a little abovehis nose, that the slugs hit his leg about the knee and broke the bone. he started up, growling at first, butfinding his leg broken, fell down again; and then got upon three legs, and gave themost hideous roar that ever i heard. i was a little surprised that i had not hithim on the head; however, i took up the

second piece immediately, and though hebegan to move off, fired again, and shot him in the head, and had the pleasure to see him drop and make but little noise, butlie struggling for life. then xury took heart, and would have me lethim go on shore. "well, go," said i: so the boy jumped intothe water and taking a little gun in one hand, swam to shore with the other hand,and coming close to the creature, put the muzzle of the piece to his ear, and shot him in the head again, which despatched himquite. this was game indeed to us, but this was nofood; and i was very sorry to lose three

charges of powder and shot upon a creaturethat was good for nothing to us. however, xury said he would have some ofhim; so he comes on board, and asked me to give him the hatchet."for what, xury?" said i. "me cut off his head," said he. however, xury could not cut off his head,but he cut off a foot, and brought it with him, and it was a monstrous great one. i bethought myself, however, that, perhapsthe skin of him might, one way or other, be of some value to us; and i resolved to takeoff his skin if i could. so xury and i went to work with him; butxury was much the better workman at it, for

i knew very ill how to do it. indeed, it took us both up the whole day,but at last we got off the hide of him, and spreading it on the top of our cabin, thesun effectually dried it in two days' time, and it afterwards served me to lie upon. chapter iiiwrecked on a desert island after this stop, we made on to thesouthward continually for ten or twelve days, living very sparingly on ourprovisions, which began to abate very much, and going no oftener to the shore than wewere obliged to for fresh water. my design in this was to make the rivergambia or senegal, that is to say anywhere

about the cape de verde, where i was inhopes to meet with some european ship; and if i did not, i knew not what course i had to take, but to seek for the islands, orperish there among the negroes. i knew that all the ships from europe,which sailed either to the coast of guinea or to brazil, or to the east indies, madethis cape, or those islands; and, in a word, i put the whole of my fortune upon this single point, either that i must meetwith some ship or must perish. when i had pursued this resolution aboutten days longer, as i have said, i began to see that the land was inhabited; and in twoor three places, as we sailed by, we saw

people stand upon the shore to look at us; we could also perceive they were quiteblack and naked. i was once inclined to have gone on shoreto them; but xury was my better counsellor, and said to me, "no go, no go." however, ihauled in nearer the shore that i might talk to them, and i found they ran alongthe shore by me a good way. i observed they had no weapons in theirhand, except one, who had a long slender stick, which xury said was a lance, andthat they could throw them a great way with good aim; so i kept at a distance, but talked with them by signs as well as icould; and particularly made signs for

something to eat: they beckoned to me tostop my boat, and they would fetch me some meat. upon this i lowered the top of my sail andlay by, and two of them ran up into the country, and in less than half-an-hour cameback, and brought with them two pieces of dried flesh and some corn, such as is the produce of their country; but we neitherknew what the one or the other was; however, we were willing to accept it, buthow to come at it was our next dispute, for i would not venture on shore to them, and they were as much afraid of us; but theytook a safe way for us all, for they

brought it to the shore and laid it down,and went and stood a great way off till we fetched it on board, and then came close tous again. we made signs of thanks to them, for we hadnothing to make them amends; but an opportunity offered that very instant tooblige them wonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mighty creatures, one pursuing the other (as wetook it) with great fury from the mountains towards the sea; whether it was the malepursuing the female, or whether they were in sport or in rage, we could not tell, any more than we could tell whether it wasusual or strange, but i believe it was the

latter; because, in the first place, thoseravenous creatures seldom appear but in the night; and, in the second place, we found the people terribly frighted, especiallythe women. the man that had the lance or dart did notfly from them, but the rest did; however, as the two creatures ran directly into thewater, they did not offer to fall upon any of the negroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, and swam about, as if they hadcome for their diversion; at last one of them began to come nearer our boat than atfirst i expected; but i lay ready for him, for i had loaded my gun with all possible

expedition, and bade xury load both theothers. as soon as he came fairly within my reach,i fired, and shot him directly in the head; immediately he sank down into the water,but rose instantly, and plunged up and down, as if he were struggling for life, and so indeed he was; he immediately madeto the shore; but between the wound, which was his mortal hurt, and the strangling ofthe water, he died just before he reached it is impossible to express theastonishment of these poor creatures at the noise and fire of my gun: some of them wereeven ready to die for fear, and fell down as dead with the very terror; but when they

saw the creature dead, and sunk in thewater, and that i made signs to them to come to the shore, they took heart andcame, and began to search for the creature. i found him by his blood staining thewater; and by the help of a rope, which i slung round him, and gave the negroes tohaul, they dragged him on shore, and found that it was a most curious leopard, spotted, and fine to an admirable degree;and the negroes held up their hands with admiration, to think what it was i hadkilled him with. the other creature, frighted with the flashof fire and the noise of the gun, swam on shore, and ran up directly to the mountainsfrom whence they came; nor could i, at that

distance, know what it was. i found quickly the negroes wished to eatthe flesh of this creature, so i was willing to have them take it as a favourfrom me; which, when i made signs to them that they might take him, they were verythankful for. immediately they fell to work with him; andthough they had no knife, yet, with a sharpened piece of wood, they took off hisskin as readily, and much more readily, than we could have done with a knife. they offered me some of the flesh, which ideclined, pointing out that i would give it them; but made signs for the skin, whichthey gave me very freely, and brought me a

great deal more of their provisions, which, though i did not understand, yet iaccepted. i then made signs to them for some water,and held out one of my jars to them, turning it bottom upward, to show that itwas empty, and that i wanted to have it filled. they called immediately to some of theirfriends, and there came two women, and brought a great vessel made of earth, andburnt, as i supposed, in the sun, this they set down to me, as before, and i sent xury on shore with my jars, and filled them allthree.

the women were as naked as the men. i was now furnished with roots and corn,such as it was, and water; and leaving my friendly negroes, i made forward for abouteleven days more, without offering to go near the shore, till i saw the land run out a great length into the sea, at about thedistance of four or five leagues before me; and the sea being very calm, i kept a largeoffing to make this point. at length, doubling the point, at about twoleagues from the land, i saw plainly land on the other side, to seaward; then iconcluded, as it was most certain indeed, that this was the cape de verde, and those

the islands called, from thence, cape deverde islands. however, they were at a great distance, andi could not well tell what i had best to do; for if i should be taken with a freshof wind, i might neither reach one or other. in this dilemma, as i was very pensive, istepped into the cabin and sat down, xury having the helm; when, on a sudden, the boycried out, "master, master, a ship with a sail!" and the foolish boy was frighted out of his wits, thinking it must needs be someof his master's ships sent to pursue us, but i knew we were far enough out of theirreach.

i jumped out of the cabin, and immediatelysaw, not only the ship, but that it was a portuguese ship; and, as i thought, wasbound to the coast of guinea, for negroes. but, when i observed the course shesteered, i was soon convinced they were bound some other way, and did not design tocome any nearer to the shore; upon which i stretched out to sea as much as i could,resolving to speak with them if possible. with all the sail i could make, i found ishould not be able to come in their way, but that they would be gone by before icould make any signal to them: but after i had crowded to the utmost, and began to despair, they, it seems, saw by the help oftheir glasses that it was some european

boat, which they supposed must belong tosome ship that was lost; so they shortened sail to let me come up. i was encouraged with this, and as i had mypatron's ancient on board, i made a waft of it to them, for a signal of distress, andfired a gun, both which they saw; for they told me they saw the smoke, though they didnot hear the gun. upon these signals they very kindly broughtto, and lay by for me; and in about three hours; time i came up with them. they asked me what i was, in portuguese,and in spanish, and in french, but i understood none of them; but at last ascotch sailor, who was on board, called to

me: and i answered him, and told him i was an englishman, that i had made my escapeout of slavery from the moors, at sallee; they then bade me come on board, and verykindly took me in, and all my goods. it was an inexpressible joy to me, whichany one will believe, that i was thus delivered, as i esteemed it, from such amiserable and almost hopeless condition as i was in; and i immediately offered all i had to the captain of the ship, as a returnfor my deliverance; but he generously told me he would take nothing from me, but thatall i had should be delivered safe to me when i came to the brazils.

"for," says he, "i have saved your life onno other terms than i would be glad to be saved myself: and it may, one time orother, be my lot to be taken up in the same condition. besides," said he, "when i carry you to thebrazils, so great a way from your own country, if i should take from you what youhave, you will be starved there, and then i only take away that life i have given. no, no," says he: "seignior inglese" (mr.englishman), "i will carry you thither in charity, and those things will help to buyyour subsistence there, and your passage home again."

as he was charitable in this proposal, sohe was just in the performance to a tittle; for he ordered the seamen that none shouldtouch anything that i had: then he took everything into his own possession, and gave me back an exact inventory of them,that i might have them, even to my three earthen jars. as to my boat, it was a very good one; andthat he saw, and told me he would buy it of me for his ship's use; and asked me what iwould have for it? i told him he had been so generous to me ineverything that i could not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirelyto him: upon which he told me he would give

me a note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it at brazil; and when it camethere, if any one offered to give more, he would make it up. he offered me also sixty pieces of eightmore for my boy xury, which i was loth to take; not that i was unwilling to let thecaptain have him, but i was very loth to sell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully in procuring myown. however, when i let him know my reason, heowned it to be just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy anobligation to set him free in ten years, if

he turned christian: upon this, and xury saying he was willing to go to him, i letthe captain have him. we had a very good voyage to the brazils,and i arrived in the bay de todos los santos, or all saints' bay, in abouttwenty-two days after. and now i was once more delivered from themost miserable of all conditions of life; and what to do next with myself i was toconsider. the generous treatment the captain gave mei can never enough remember: he would take nothing of me for my passage, gave metwenty ducats for the leopard's skin, and forty for the lion's skin, which i had in

my boat, and caused everything i had in theship to be punctually delivered to me; and what i was willing to sell he bought of me,such as the case of bottles, two of my guns, and a piece of the lump of beeswax- for i had made candles of the rest: in aword, i made about two hundred and twenty pieces of eight of all my cargo; and withthis stock i went on shore in the brazils. i had not been long here before i wasrecommended to the house of a good honest man like himself, who had an ingenio, asthey call it (that is, a plantation and a sugar-house). i lived with him some time, and acquaintedmyself by that means with the manner of

planting and making of sugar; and seeinghow well the planters lived, and how they got rich suddenly, i resolved, if i could get a licence to settle there, i would turnplanter among them: resolving in the meantime to find out some way to get mymoney, which i had left in london, remitted to me. to this purpose, getting a kind of letterof naturalisation, i purchased as much land that was uncured as my money would reach,and formed a plan for my plantation and settlement; such a one as might be suitable to the stock which i proposed to myself toreceive from england.

i had a neighbour, a portuguese, of lisbon,but born of english parents, whose name was wells, and in much such circumstances as iwas. i call him my neighbour, because hisplantation lay next to mine, and we went on very sociably together. my stock was but low, as well as his; andwe rather planted for food than anything else, for about two years. however, we began to increase, and our landbegan to come into order; so that the third year we planted some tobacco, and made eachof us a large piece of ground ready for planting canes in the year to come.

but we both wanted help; and now i found,more than before, i had done wrong in parting with my boy xury.but, alas! for me to do wrong that never did right, was no great wonder. i hail no remedy but to go on: i had gotinto an employment quite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life idelighted in, and for which i forsook my father's house, and broke through all hisgood advice. nay, i was coming into the very middlestation, or upper degree of low life, which my father advised me to before, and which,if i resolved to go on with, i might as well have stayed at home, and never have

fatigued myself in the world as i had done;and i used often to say to myself, i could have done this as well in england, among myfriends, as have gone five thousand miles off to do it among strangers and savages, in a wilderness, and at such a distance asnever to hear from any part of the world that had the least knowledge of me.in this manner i used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret. i had nobody to converse with, but now andthen this neighbour; no work to be done, but by the labour of my hands; and i usedto say, i lived just like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that had nobodythere but himself.

but how just has it been-and how should allmen reflect, that when they compare their present conditions with others that areworse, heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and be convinced of their former felicity by their experience-i say, howjust has it been, that the truly solitary life i reflected on, in an island of meredesolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustly compared it with the life which i then led, in which, had icontinued, i had in all probability been exceeding prosperous and rich. i was in some degree settled in my measuresfor carrying on the plantation before my

kind friend, the captain of the ship thattook me up at sea, went back-for the ship remained there, in providing his lading and preparing for his voyage, nearly threemonths-when telling him what little stock i had left behind me in london, he gave methis friendly and sincere advice:-"seignior inglese," says he (for so he always called me), "if you will give me letters, and aprocuration in form to me, with orders to the person who has your money in london tosend your effects to lisbon, to such persons as i shall direct, and in such goods as are proper for this country, iwill bring you the produce of them, god

willing, at my return; but, since humanaffairs are all subject to changes and disasters, i would have you give orders but for one hundred pounds sterling, which, yousay, is half your stock, and let the hazard be run for the first; so that, if it comesafe, you may order the rest the same way, and, if it miscarry, you may have the otherhalf to have recourse to for your supply." this was so wholesome advice, and looked sofriendly, that i could not but be convinced it was the best course i could take; so iaccordingly prepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom i had left my money, and a procuration to the portuguesecaptain, as he desired.

i wrote the english captain's widow a fullaccount of all my adventures-my slavery, escape, and how i had met with theportuguese captain at sea, the humanity of his behaviour, and what condition i was now in, with all other necessary directions formy supply; and when this honest captain came to lisbon, he found means, by some ofthe english merchants there, to send over, not the order only, but a full account of my story to a merchant in london, whorepresented it effectually to her; whereupon she not only delivered the money,but out of her own pocket sent the portugal captain a very handsome present for hishumanity and charity to me.

the merchant in london, vesting thishundred pounds in english goods, such as the captain had written for, sent themdirectly to him at lisbon, and he brought them all safe to me to the brazils; among which, without my direction (for i was tooyoung in my business to think of them), he had taken care to have all sorts of tools,ironwork, and utensils necessary for my plantation, and which were of great use tome. when this cargo arrived i thought myfortune made, for i was surprised with the joy of it; and my stood steward, thecaptain, had laid out the five pounds, which my friend had sent him for a present

for himself, to purchase and bring me overa servant, under bond for six years' service, and would not accept of anyconsideration, except a little tobacco, which i would have him accept, being of myown produce. neither was this all; for my goods beingall english manufacture, such as cloths, stuffs, baize, and things particularlyvaluable and desirable in the country, i found means to sell them to a very great advantage; so that i might say i had morethan four times the value of my first cargo, and was now infinitely beyond mypoor neighbour-i mean in the advancement of my plantation; for the first thing i did, i

bought me a negro slave, and an europeanservant also-i mean another besides that which the captain brought me from lisbon. but as abused prosperity is oftentimes madethe very means of our greatest adversity, so it was with me. i went on the next year with great successin my plantation: i raised fifty great rolls of tobacco on my own ground, morethan i had disposed of for necessaries among my neighbours; and these fifty rolls, being each of above a hundredweight, werewell cured, and laid by against the return of the fleet from lisbon: and nowincreasing in business and wealth, my head

began to be full of projects and undertakings beyond my reach; such as are,indeed, often the ruin of the best heads in business. had i continued in the station i was nowin, i had room for all the happy things to have yet befallen me for which my father soearnestly recommended a quiet, retired life, and of which he had so sensibly described the middle station of life to befull of; but other things attended me, and i was still to be the wilful agent of allmy own miseries; and particularly, to increase my fault, and double the

reflections upon myself, which in my futuresorrows i should have leisure to make, all these miscarriages were procured by myapparent obstinate adhering to my foolish inclination of wandering abroad, and pursuing that inclination, in contradictionto the clearest views of doing myself good in a fair and plain pursuit of thoseprospects, and those measures of life, which nature and providence concurred topresent me with, and to make my duty. as i had once done thus in my breaking awayfrom my parents, so i could not be content now, but i must go and leave the happy viewi had of being a rich and thriving man in my new plantation, only to pursue a rash

and immoderate desire of rising faster thanthe nature of the thing admitted; and thus i cast myself down again into the deepestgulf of human misery that ever man fell into, or perhaps could be consistent withlife and a state of health in the world. to come, then, by the just degrees to theparticulars of this part of my story. you may suppose, that having now livedalmost four years in the brazils, and beginning to thrive and prosper very wellupon my plantation, i had not only learned the language, but had contracted acquaintance and friendship among myfellow-planters, as well as among the merchants at st. salvador, which was ourport; and that, in my discourses among

them, i had frequently given them an account of my two voyages to the coast ofguinea: the manner of trading with the negroes there, and how easy it was topurchase upon the coast for trifles-such as beads, toys, knives, scissors, hatchets, bits of glass, and the like-not only gold-dust, guinea grains, elephants' teeth, &c., but negroes, for the service of thebrazils, in great numbers. they listened always very attentively to mydiscourses on these heads, but especially to that part which related to the buying ofnegroes, which was a trade at that time, not only not far entered into, but, as far

as it was, had been carried on byassientos, or permission of the kings of spain and portugal, and engrossed in thepublic stock: so that few negroes were bought, and these excessively dear. it happened, being in company with somemerchants and planters of my acquaintance, and talking of those things very earnestly,three of them came to me next morning, and told me they had been musing very much upon what i had discoursed with them of the lastnight, and they came to make a secret proposal to me; and, after enjoining me tosecrecy, they told me that they had a mind to fit out a ship to go to guinea; that

they had all plantations as well as i, andwere straitened for nothing so much as servants; that as it was a trade that couldnot be carried on, because they could not publicly sell the negroes when they came home, so they desired to make but onevoyage, to bring the negroes on shore privately, and divide them among their ownplantations; and, in a word, the question was whether i would go their supercargo in the ship, to manage the trading part uponthe coast of guinea; and they offered me that i should have my equal share of thenegroes, without providing any part of the stock.

this was a fair proposal, it must beconfessed, had it been made to any one that had not had a settlement and a plantationof his own to look after, which was in a fair way of coming to be very considerable, and with a good stock upon it; but for me,that was thus entered and established, and had nothing to do but to go on as i hadbegun, for three or four years more, and to have sent for the other hundred pounds from england; and who in that time, and withthat little addition, could scarce have failed of being worth three or fourthousand pounds sterling, and that increasing too-for me to think of such a

voyage was the most preposterous thing thatever man in such circumstances could be guilty of. but i, that was born to be my owndestroyer, could no more resist the offer than i could restrain my first ramblingdesigns when my father' good counsel was lost upon me. in a word, i told them i would go with allmy heart, if they would undertake to look after my plantation in my absence, andwould dispose of it to such as i should direct, if i miscarried. this they all engaged to do, and enteredinto writings or covenants to do so; and i

made a formal will, disposing of myplantation and effects in case of my death, making the captain of the ship that had saved my life, as before, my universalheir, but obliging him to dispose of my effects as i had directed in my will; onehalf of the produce being to himself, and the other to be shipped to england. in short, i took all possible caution topreserve my effects and to keep up my plantation. had i used half as much prudence to havelooked into my own interest, and have made a judgment of what i ought to have done andnot to have done, i had certainly never

gone away from so prosperous an undertaking, leaving all the probable viewsof a thriving circumstance, and gone upon a voyage to sea, attended with all its commonhazards, to say nothing of the reasons i had to expect particular misfortunes tomyself. but i was hurried on, and obeyed blindlythe dictates of my fancy rather than my reason; and, accordingly, the ship beingfitted out, and the cargo furnished, and all things done, as by agreement, by my partners in the voyage, i went on board inan evil hour, the 1st september 1659, being the same day eight years that i went frommy father and mother at hull, in order to

act the rebel to their authority, and thefool to my own interests. our ship was about one hundred and twentytons burden, carried six guns and fourteen men, besides the master, his boy, andmyself. we had on board no large cargo of goods,except of such toys as were fit for our trade with the negroes, such as beads, bitsof glass, shells, and other trifles, especially little looking-glasses, knives,scissors, hatchets, and the like. the same day i went on board we set sail,standing away to the northward upon our own coast, with design to stretch over for theafrican coast when we came about ten or twelve degrees of northern latitude, which,

it seems, was the manner of course in thosedays. we had very good weather, only excessivelyhot, all the way upon our own coast, till we came to the height of cape st.augustino; from whence, keeping further off at sea, we lost sight of land, and steered as if we were bound for the isle fernandode noronha, holding our course n.e. by n., and leaving those isles on the east. in this course we passed the line in abouttwelve days' time, and were, by our last observation, in seven degrees twenty-twominutes northern latitude, when a violent tornado, or hurricane, took us quite out ofour knowledge.

it began from the south-east, came about tothe north-west, and then settled in the north-east; from whence it blew in such aterrible manner, that for twelve days together we could do nothing but drive, and, scudding away before it, let it carryus whither fate and the fury of the winds directed; and, during these twelve days, ineed not say that i expected every day to be swallowed up; nor, indeed, did any inthe ship expect to save their lives. in this distress we had, besides the terrorof the storm, one of our men die of the calenture, and one man and the boy washedoverboard. about the twelfth day, the weather abatinga little, the master made an observation as

well as he could, and found that he was inabout eleven degrees north latitude, but that he was twenty-two degrees of longitude difference west from cape st. augustino; sothat he found he was upon the coast of guiana, or the north part of brazil, beyondthe river amazon, toward that of the river orinoco, commonly called the great river; and began to consult with me what course heshould take, for the ship was leaky, and very much disabled, and he was goingdirectly back to the coast of brazil. i was positively against that; and lookingover the charts of the sea-coast of america with him, we concluded there was noinhabited country for us to have recourse

to till we came within the circle of the caribbee islands, and therefore resolved tostand away for barbadoes; which, by keeping off at sea, to avoid the indraft of the bayor gulf of mexico, we might easily perform, as we hoped, in about fifteen days' sail; whereas we could not possibly make ourvoyage to the coast of africa without some assistance both to our ship and toourselves. with this design we changed our course, andsteered away n.w. by w., in order to reach some of our english islands, where i hopedfor relief. but our voyage was otherwise determined;for, being in the latitude of twelve

degrees eighteen minutes, a second stormcame upon us, which carried us away with the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so out of the way of all human commerce,that, had all our lives been saved as to the sea, we were rather in danger of beingdevoured by savages than ever returning to our own country. in this distress, the wind still blowingvery hard, one of our men early in the morning cried out, "land!" and we had nosooner run out of the cabin to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world we were, than the ship struck upon a sand, andin a moment her motion being so stopped,

the sea broke over her in such a mannerthat we expected we should all have perished immediately; and we were immediately driven into our close quarters,to shelter us from the very foam and spray of the sea. it is not easy for any one who has not beenin the like condition to describe or conceive the consternation of men in suchcircumstances. we knew nothing where we were, or upon whatland it was we were driven-whether an island or the main, whether inhabited ornot inhabited. as the rage of the wind was still great,though rather less than at first, we could

not so much as hope to have the ship holdmany minutes without breaking into pieces, unless the winds, by a kind of miracle,should turn immediately about. in a word, we sat looking upon one another,and expecting death every moment, and every man, accordingly, preparing for anotherworld; for there was little or nothing more for us to do in this. that which was our present comfort, and allthe comfort we had, was that, contrary to our expectation, the ship did not breakyet, and that the master said the wind began to abate. now, though we thought that the wind did alittle abate, yet the ship having thus

struck upon the sand, and sticking too fastfor us to expect her getting off, we were in a dreadful condition indeed, and had nothing to do but to think of saving ourlives as well as we could. we had a boat at our stern just before thestorm, but she was first staved by dashing against the ship's rudder, and in the nextplace she broke away, and either sunk or was driven off to sea; so there was no hopefrom her. we had another boat on board, but how toget her off into the sea was a doubtful thing. however, there was no time to debate, forwe fancied that the ship would break in

pieces every minute, and some told us shewas actually broken already. in this distress the mate of our vessellaid hold of the boat, and with the help of the rest of the men got her slung over theship's side; and getting all into her, let go, and committed ourselves, being eleven in number, to god's mercy and the wild sea;for though the storm was abated considerably, yet the sea ran dreadfullyhigh upon the shore, and might be well called den wild zee, as the dutch call thesea in a storm. and now our case was very dismal indeed;for we all saw plainly that the sea went so high that the boat could not live, and thatwe should be inevitably drowned.

as to making sail, we had none, nor if wehad could we have done anything with it; so we worked at the oar towards the land,though with heavy hearts, like men going to execution; for we all knew that when the boat came near the shore she would bedashed in a thousand pieces by the breach however, we committed our souls to god inthe most earnest manner; and the wind driving us towards the shore, we hastenedour destruction with our own hands, pulling as well as we could towards land. what the shore was, whether rock or sand,whether steep or shoal, we knew not. the only hope that could rationally give usthe least shadow of expectation was, if we

might find some bay or gulf, or the mouthof some river, where by great chance we might have run our boat in, or got under the lee of the land, and perhaps madesmooth water. but there was nothing like this appeared;but as we made nearer and nearer the shore, the land looked more frightful than thesea. after we had rowed, or rather driven abouta league and a half, as we reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rollingastern of us, and plainly bade us expect the coup de grã¢ce. it took us with such a fury, that itoverset the boat at once; and separating us

as well from the boat as from one another,gave us no time to say, "o god!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment. nothing can describe the confusion ofthought which i felt when i sank into the water; for though i swam very well, yet icould not deliver myself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wave having driven me, or rather carried me, a vast wayon towards the shore, and having spent itself, went back, and left me upon theland almost dry, but half dead with the water i took in. i had so much presence of mind, as well asbreath left, that seeing myself nearer the

mainland than i expected, i got upon myfeet, and endeavoured to make on towards the land as fast as i could before another wave should return and take me up again;but i soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for i saw the sea come after me as highas a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which i had no means or strength to contend with: my business was to hold mybreath, and raise myself upon the water if i could; and so, by swimming, to preservemy breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore, if possible, my greatest concern now being that the sea, as it would carry me agreat way towards the shore when it came

on, might not carry me back again with itwhen it gave back towards the sea. the wave that came upon me again buried meat once twenty or thirty feet deep in its own body, and i could feel myself carriedwith a mighty force and swiftness towards the shore-a very great way; but i held my breath, and assisted myself to swim stillforward with all my might. i was ready to burst with holding mybreath, when, as i felt myself rising up, so, to my immediate relief, i found my headand hands shoot out above the surface of the water; and though it was not two seconds of time that i could keep myselfso, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me

breath, and new courage. i was covered again with water a goodwhile, but not so long but i held it out; and finding the water had spent itself, andbegan to return, i struck forward against the return of the waves, and felt groundagain with my feet. i stood still a few moments to recoverbreath, and till the waters went from me, and then took to my heels and ran with whatstrength i had further towards the shore. but neither would this deliver me from thefury of the sea, which came pouring in after me again; and twice more i was liftedup by the waves and carried forward as before, the shore being very flat.

the last time of these two had well-nighbeen fatal to me, for the sea having hurried me along as before, landed me, orrather dashed me, against a piece of rock, and that with such force, that it left me senseless, and indeed helpless, as to myown deliverance; for the blow taking my side and breast, beat the breath as it werequite out of my body; and had it returned again immediately, i must have been strangled in the water; but i recovered alittle before the return of the waves, and seeing i should be covered again with thewater, i resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, ifpossible, till the wave went back.

now, as the waves were not so high as atfirst, being nearer land, i held my hold till the wave abated, and then fetchedanother run, which brought me so near the shore that the next wave, though it went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as tocarry me away; and the next run i took, i got to the mainland, where, to my greatcomfort, i clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach ofthe water. i was now landed and safe on shore, andbegan to look up and thank god that my life was saved, in a case wherein there was someminutes before scarce any room to hope.

i believe it is impossible to express, tothe life, what the ecstasies and transports of the soul are, when it is so saved, as imay say, out of the very grave: and i do not wonder now at the custom, when a malefactor, who has the halter about hisneck, is tied up, and just going to be turned off, and has a reprieve brought tohim-i say, i do not wonder that they bring a surgeon with it, to let him blood that very moment they tell him of it, that thesurprise may not drive the animal spirits from the heart and overwhelm him."for sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first."

i walked about on the shore lifting up myhands, and my whole being, as i may say, wrapped up in a contemplation of mydeliverance; making a thousand gestures and motions, which i cannot describe; reflecting upon all my comrades that weredrowned, and that there should not be one soul saved but myself; for, as for them, inever saw them afterwards, or any sign of them, except three of their hats, one cap,and two shoes that were not fellows. i cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when,the breach and froth of the sea being so big, i could hardly see it, it lay so farof; and considered, lord! how was it possible i could get on shore?

after i had solaced my mind with thecomfortable part of my condition, i began to look round me, to see what kind of placei was in, and what was next to be done; and i soon found my comforts abate, and that, in a word, i had a dreadful deliverance;for i was wet, had no clothes to shift me, nor anything either to eat or drink tocomfort me; neither did i see any prospect before me but that of perishing with hunger or being devoured by wild beasts; and thatwhich was particularly afflicting to me was, that i had no weapon, either to huntand kill any creature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any other creaturethat might desire to kill me for theirs.

in a word, i had nothing about me but aknife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box. this was all my provisions; and this threwme into such terrible agonies of mind, that for a while i ran about like a madman. night coming upon me, i began with a heavyheart to consider what would be my lot if there were any ravenous beasts in thatcountry, as at night they always come abroad for their prey. all the remedy that offered to my thoughtsat that time was to get up into a thick bushy tree like a fir, but thorny, whichgrew near me, and where i resolved to sit

all night, and consider the next day what death i should die, for as yet i saw noprospect of life. i walked about a furlong from the shore, tosee if i could find any fresh water to drink, which i did, to my great joy; andhaving drank, and put a little tobacco into my mouth to prevent hunger, i went to the tree, and getting up into it, endeavouredto place myself so that if i should sleep i might not fall. and having cut me a short stick, like atruncheon, for my defence, i took up my lodging; and having been excessivelyfatigued, i fell fast asleep, and slept as

comfortably as, i believe, few could have done in my condition, and found myself morerefreshed with it than, i think, i ever was on such an occasion. chapter ivfirst weeks on the island when i waked it was broad day, the weatherclear, and the storm abated, so that the sea did not rage and swell as before. but that which surprised me most was, thatthe ship was lifted off in the night from the sand where she lay by the swelling ofthe tide, and was driven up almost as far as the rock which i at first mentioned,

where i had been so bruised by the wavedashing me against it. this being within about a mile from theshore where i was, and the ship seeming to stand upright still, i wished myself onboard, that at least i might save some necessary things for my use. when i came down from my apartment in thetree, i looked about me again, and the first thing i found was the boat, whichlay, as the wind and the sea had tossed her up, upon the land, about two miles on myright hand. i walked as far as i could upon the shoreto have got to her; but found a neck or inlet of water between me and the boatwhich was about half a mile broad; so i

came back for the present, being more intent upon getting at the ship, where ihoped to find something for my present subsistence. a little after noon i found the sea verycalm, and the tide ebbed so far out that i could come within a quarter of a mile ofthe ship. and here i found a fresh renewing of mygrief; for i saw evidently that if we had kept on board we had been all safe-that isto say, we had all got safe on shore, and i had not been so miserable as to be left entirety destitute of all comfort andcompany as i now was.

this forced tears to my eyes again; but asthere was little relief in that, i resolved, if possible, to get to the ship;so i pulled off my clothes-for the weather was hot to extremity-and took the water. but when i came to the ship my difficultywas still greater to know how to get on board; for, as she lay aground, and highout of the water, there was nothing within my reach to lay hold of. i swam round her twice, and the second timei spied a small piece of rope, which i wondered i did not see at first, hung downby the fore-chains so low, as that with great difficulty i got hold of it, and by

the help of that rope i got up into theforecastle of the ship. here i found that the ship was bulged, andhad a great deal of water in her hold, but that she lay so on the side of a bank ofhard sand, or, rather earth, that her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her headlow, almost to the water. by this means all her quarter was free, andall that was in that part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was to search,and to see what was spoiled and what was free. and, first, i found that all the ship'sprovisions were dry and untouched by the water, and being very well disposed to eat,i went to the bread room and filled my

pockets with biscuit, and ate it as i went about other things, for i had no time tolose. i also found some rum in the great cabin,of which i took a large dram, and which i had, indeed, need enough of to spirit mefor what was before me. now i wanted nothing but a boat to furnishmyself with many things which i foresaw would be very necessary to me. it was in vain to sit still and wish forwhat was not to be had; and this extremity roused my application. we had several spare yards, and two orthree large spars of wood, and a spare

topmast or two in the ship; i resolved tofall to work with these, and i flung as many of them overboard as i could manage for their weight, tying every one with arope, that they might not drive away. when this was done i went down the ship'sside, and pulling them to me, i tied four of them together at both ends as well as icould, in the form of a raft, and laying two or three short pieces of plank upon them crossways, i found i could walk uponit very well, but that it was not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being toolight. so i went to work, and with a carpenter'ssaw i cut a spare topmast into three

lengths, and added them to my raft, with agreat deal of labour and pains. but the hope of furnishing myself withnecessaries encouraged me to go beyond what i should have been able to have done uponanother occasion. my raft was now strong enough to bear anyreasonable weight. my next care was what to load it with, andhow to preserve what i laid upon it from the surf of the sea; but i was not longconsidering this. i first laid all the planks or boards uponit that i could get, and having considered well what i most wanted, i got three of theseamen's chests, which i had broken open, and emptied, and lowered them down upon my

raft; the first of these i filled withprovisions-viz. bread, rice, three dutch cheeses, five pieces of dried goat's flesh(which we lived much upon), and a little remainder of european corn, which had been laid by for some fowls which we brought tosea with us, but the fowls were killed. there had been some barley and wheattogether; but, to my great disappointment, i found afterwards that the rats had eatenor spoiled it all. as for liquors, i found several, cases ofbottles belonging to our skipper, in which were some cordial waters; and, in all,about five or six gallons of rack. these i stowed by themselves, there beingno need to put them into the chest, nor any

room for them. while i was doing this, i found the tidebegin to flow, though very calm; and i had the mortification to see my coat, shirt,and waistcoat, which i had left on the shore, upon the sand, swim away. as for my breeches, which were only linen,and open-kneed, i swam on board in them and my stockings. however, this set me on rummaging forclothes, of which i found enough, but took no more than i wanted for present use, fori had others things which my eye was more upon-as, first, tools to work with onshore.

and it was after long searching that ifound out the carpenter's chest, which was, indeed, a very useful prize to me, and muchmore valuable than a shipload of gold would have been at that time. i got it down to my raft, whole as it was,without losing time to look into it, for i knew in general what it contained.my next care was for some ammunition and arms. there were two very good fowling-pieces inthe great cabin, and two pistols. these i secured first, with some powder-horns and a small bag of shot, and two old rusty swords.

i knew there were three barrels of powderin the ship, but knew not where our gunner had stowed them; but with much search ifound them, two of them dry and good, the third had taken water. those two i got to my raft with the arms. and now i thought myself pretty wellfreighted, and began to think how i should get to shore with them, having neithersail, oar, nor rudder; and the least capful of wind would have overset all mynavigation. i had three encouragements-1st, a smooth,calm sea; 2ndly, the tide rising, and setting in to the shore; 3rdly, what littlewind there was blew me towards the land.

and thus, having found two or three brokenoars belonging to the boat-and, besides the tools which were in the chest, i found twosaws, an axe, and a hammer; with this cargo i put to sea. for a mile or thereabouts my raft went verywell, only that i found it drive a little distant from the place where i had landedbefore; by which i perceived that there was some indraft of the water, and consequently i hoped to find some creek or river there,which i might make use of as a port to get to land with my cargo.as i imagined, so it was. there appeared before me a little openingof the land, and i found a strong current

of the tide set into it; so i guided myraft as well as i could, to keep in the middle of the stream. but here i had like to have suffered asecond shipwreck, which, if i had, i think verily would have broken my heart; for,knowing nothing of the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground at the other end, itwanted but a little that all my cargo had slipped off towards the end that wasafloat, and to fallen into the water. i did my utmost, by setting my back againstthe chests, to keep them in their places, but could not thrust off the raft with allmy strength; neither durst i stir from the

posture i was in; but holding up the chests with all my might, i stood in that mannernear half-an-hour, in which time the rising of the water brought me a little more upona level; and a little after, the water still-rising, my raft floated again, and i thrust her off with the oar i had into thechannel, and then driving up higher, i at length found myself in the mouth of alittle river, with land on both sides, and a strong current of tide running up. i looked on both sides for a proper placeto get to shore, for i was not willing to be driven too high up the river: hoping intime to see some ships at sea, and

therefore resolved to place myself as nearthe coast as i could. at length i spied a little cove on theright shore of the creek, to which with great pain and difficulty i guided my raft,and at last got so near that, reaching ground with my oar, i could thrust herdirectly in. but here i had like to have dipped all mycargo into the sea again; for that shore lying pretty steep-that is to say sloping-there was no place to land, but where one end of my float, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the other sink lower, asbefore, that it would endanger my cargo again.

all that i could do was to wait till thetide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my oar like an anchor, to hold theside of it fast to the shore, near a flat piece of ground, which i expected the waterwould flow over; and so it did. as soon as i found water enough-for my raftdrew about a foot of water-i thrust her upon that flat piece of ground, and therefastened or moored her, by sticking my two broken oars into the ground, one on one side near one end, and one on the otherside near the other end; and thus i lay till the water ebbed away, and left my raftand all my cargo safe on shore. my next work was to view the country, andseek a proper place for my habitation, and

where to stow my goods to secure them fromwhatever might happen. where i was, i yet knew not; whether on thecontinent or on an island; whether inhabited or not inhabited; whether indanger of wild beasts or not. there was a hill not above a mile from me,which rose up very steep and high, and which seemed to overtop some other hills,which lay as in a ridge from it northward. i took out one of the fowling-pieces, andone of the pistols, and a horn of powder; and thus armed, i travelled for discoveryup to the top of that hill, where, after i had with great labour and difficulty got to the top, i saw my fate, to my greataffliction-viz. that i was in an island

environed every way with the sea: no landto be seen except some rocks, which lay a great way off; and two small islands, less than this, which lay about three leagues tothe west. i found also that the island i was in wasbarren, and, as i saw good reason to believe, uninhabited except by wild beasts,of whom, however, i saw none. yet i saw abundance of fowls, but knew nottheir kinds; neither when i killed them could i tell what was fit for food, andwhat not. at my coming back, i shot at a great birdwhich i saw sitting upon a tree on the side of a great wood.

i believe it was the first gun that hadbeen fired there since the creation of the world. i had no sooner fired, than from all partsof the wood there arose an innumerable number of fowls, of many sorts, making aconfused screaming and crying, and every one according to his usual note, but notone of them of any kind that i knew. as for the creature i killed, i took it tobe a kind of hawk, its colour and beak resembling it, but it had no talons orclaws more than common. its flesh was carrion, and fit for nothing. contented with this discovery, i came backto my raft, and fell to work to bring my

cargo on shore, which took me up the restof that day. what to do with myself at night i knew not,nor indeed where to rest, for i was afraid to lie down on the ground, not knowing butsome wild beast might devour me, though, as i afterwards found, there was really noneed for those fears. however, as well as i could, i barricadedmyself round with the chest and boards that i had brought on shore, and made a kind ofhut for that night's lodging. as for food, i yet saw not which way tosupply myself, except that i had seen two or three creatures like hares run out ofthe wood where i shot the fowl. i now began to consider that i might yetget a great many things out of the ship

which would be useful to me, andparticularly some of the rigging and sails, and such other things as might come to land; and i resolved to make another voyageon board the vessel, if possible. and as i knew that the first storm thatblew must necessarily break her all in pieces, i resolved to set all other thingsapart till i had got everything out of the ship that i could get. then i called a council-that is to say inmy thoughts-whether i should take back the raft; but this appeared impracticable: so iresolved to go as before, when the tide was down; and i did so, only that i stripped

before i went from my hut, having nothingon but my chequered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, and a pair of pumps on my feet. i got on board the ship as before, andprepared a second raft; and, having had experience of the first, i neither madethis so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but yet i brought away several things very useful to me; as first, in the carpentersstores i found two or three bags full of nails and spikes, a great screw-jack, adozen or two of hatchets, and, above all, that most useful thing called a grindstone. all these i secured, together with severalthings belonging to the gunner,

particularly two or three iron crows, andtwo barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets, another fowling-piece, with some small quantity of powder more; a largebagful of small shot, and a great roll of sheet-lead; but this last was so heavy, icould not hoist it up to get it over the ship's side. besides these things, i took all the men'sclothes that i could find, and a spare fore-topsail, a hammock, and some bedding;and with this i loaded my second raft, and brought them all safe on shore, to my verygreat comfort. i was under some apprehension, during myabsence from the land, that at least my

provisions might be devoured on shore: butwhen i came back i found no sign of any visitor; only there sat a creature like a wild cat upon one of the chests, which,when i came towards it, ran away a little distance, and then stood still. she sat very composed and unconcerned, andlooked full in my face, as if she had a mind to be acquainted with me. i presented my gun at her, but, as she didnot understand it, she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer tostir away; upon which i tossed her a bit of biscuit, though by the way, i was not very

free of it, for my store was not great:however, i spared her a bit, i say, and she went to it, smelled at it, and ate it, andlooked (as if pleased) for more; but i thanked her, and could spare no more: soshe marched off. having got my second cargo on shore-thoughi was fain to open the barrels of powder, and bring them by parcels, for they weretoo heavy, being large casks-i went to work to make me a little tent with the sail and some poles which i cut for that purpose:and into this tent i brought everything that i knew would spoil either with rain orsun; and i piled all the empty chests and casks up in a circle round the tent, to

fortify it from any sudden attempt, eitherfrom man or beast. when i had done this, i blocked up the doorof the tent with some boards within, and an empty chest set up on end without; andspreading one of the beds upon the ground, laying my two pistols just at my head, and my gun at length by me, i went to bed forthe first time, and slept very quietly all night, for i was very weary and heavy; forthe night before i had slept little, and had laboured very hard all day to fetch all those things from the ship, and to get themon shore. i had the biggest magazine of all kinds nowthat ever was laid up, i believe, for one

man: but i was not satisfied still, forwhile the ship sat upright in that posture, i thought i ought to get everything out of her that i could; so every day at low wateri went on board, and brought away something or other; but particularly the third time iwent i brought away as much of the rigging as i could, as also all the small ropes and rope-twine i could get, with a piece ofspare canvas, which was to mend the sails upon occasion, and the barrel of wetgunpowder. in a word, i brought away all the sails,first and last; only that i was fain to cut them in pieces, and bring as much at a timeas i could, for they were no more useful to

be sails, but as mere canvas only. but that which comforted me more still,was, that last of all, after i had made five or six such voyages as these, andthought i had nothing more to expect from the ship that was worth my meddling with-i say, after all this, i found a greathogshead of bread, three large runlets of rum, or spirits, a box of sugar, and abarrel of fine flour; this was surprising to me, because i had given over expecting any more provisions, except what wasspoiled by the water. i soon emptied the hogshead of the bread,and wrapped it up, parcel by parcel, in

pieces of the sails, which i cut out; and,in a word, i got all this safe on shore also. the next day i made another voyage, andnow, having plundered the ship of what was portable and fit to hand out, i began withthe cables. cutting the great cable into pieces, suchas i could move, i got two cables and a hawser on shore, with all the ironwork icould get; and having cut down the spritsail-yard, and the mizzen-yard, and everything i could, to make a large raft, iloaded it with all these heavy goods, and came away.

but my good luck began now to leave me; forthis raft was so unwieldy, and so overladen, that, after i had entered thelittle cove where i had landed the rest of my goods, not being able to guide it so handily as i did the other, it overset, andthrew me and all my cargo into the water. as for myself, it was no great harm, for iwas near the shore; but as to my cargo, it was a great part of it lost, especially theiron, which i expected would have been of great use to me; however, when the tide was out, i got most of the pieces of the cableashore, and some of the iron, though with infinite labour; for i was fain to dip forit into the water, a work which fatigued me

very much. after this, i went every day on board, andbrought away what i could get. i had been now thirteen days on shore, andhad been eleven times on board the ship, in which time i had brought away all that onepair of hands could well be supposed capable to bring; though i believe verily, had the calm weather held, i should havebrought away the whole ship, piece by piece. but preparing the twelfth time to go onboard, i found the wind began to rise: however, at low water i went on board, andthough i thought i had rummaged the cabin

so effectually that nothing more could be found, yet i discovered a locker withdrawers in it, in one of which i found two or three razors, and one pair of largescissors, with some ten or a dozen of good knives and forks: in another i found about thirty-six pounds value in money-someeuropean coin, some brazil, some pieces of eight, some gold, and some silver. i smiled to myself at the sight of thismoney: "o drug!" said i, aloud, "what art thou good for? thou art not worth to me-no, not the takingoff the ground; one of those knives is

worth all this heap; i have no manner ofuse for thee-e'en remain where thou art, and go to the bottom as a creature whose life is not worth saying." however, uponsecond thoughts i took it away; and wrapping all this in a piece of canvas, ibegan to think of making another raft; but while i was preparing this, i found the sky overcast, and the wind began to rise, andin a quarter of an hour it blew a fresh gale from the shore. it presently occurred to me that it was invain to pretend to make a raft with the wind offshore; and that it was my businessto be gone before the tide of flood began,

otherwise i might not be able to reach theshore at all. accordingly, i let myself down into thewater, and swam across the channel, which lay between the ship and the sands, andeven that with difficulty enough, partly with the weight of the things i had about me, and partly the roughness of the water;for the wind rose very hastily, and before it was quite high water it blew a storm. but i had got home to my little tent, wherei lay, with all my wealth about me, very secure. it blew very hard all night, and in themorning, when i looked out, behold, no more

ship was to be seen! i was a little surprised, but recoveredmyself with the satisfactory reflection that i had lost no time, nor abated anydiligence, to get everything out of her that could be useful to me; and that, indeed, there was little left in her that iwas able to bring away, if i had had more time. i now gave over any more thoughts of theship, or of anything out of her, except what might drive on shore from her wreck;as, indeed, divers pieces of her afterwards did; but those things were of small use tome.

my thoughts were now wholly employed aboutsecuring myself against either savages, if any should appear, or wild beasts, if anywere in the island; and i had many thoughts of the method how to do this, and what kind of dwelling to make-whether i should makeme a cave in the earth, or a tent upon the earth; and, in short, i resolved upon both;the manner and description of which, it may not be improper to give an account of. i soon found the place i was in was not fitfor my settlement, because it was upon a low, moorish ground, near the sea, and ibelieved it would not be wholesome, and more particularly because there was no

fresh water near it; so i resolved to finda more healthy and more convenient spot of ground. i consulted several things in my situation,which i found would he proper for me: 1st, health and fresh water, i just nowmentioned; 2ndly, shelter from the heat of the sun; 3rdly, security from ravenous creatures, whether man or beast; 4thly, aview to the sea, that if god sent any ship in sight, i might not lose any advantagefor my deliverance, of which i was not willing to banish all my expectation yet. in search of a place proper for this, ifound a little plain on the side of a

rising hill, whose front towards thislittle plain was steep as a house-side, so that nothing could come down upon me fromthe top. on the one side of the rock there was ahollow place, worn a little way in, like the entrance or door of a cave but therewas not really any cave or way into the rock at all. on the flat of the green, just before thishollow place, i resolved to pitch my tent. this plain was not above a hundred yardsbroad, and about twice as long, and lay like a green before my door; and, at theend of it, descended irregularly every way down into the low ground by the seaside.

it was on the n.n.w. side of the hill; sothat it was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came to a w. and by s. sun, orthereabouts, which, in those countries, is near the setting. before i set up my tent i drew a half-circle before the hollow place, which took in about ten yards in its semi-diameterfrom the rock, and twenty yards in its diameter from its beginning and ending. in this half-circle i pitched two rows ofstrong stakes, driving them into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, thebiggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a half, and sharpened on thetop.

the two rows did not stand above six inchesfrom one another. then i took the pieces of cable which i hadcut in the ship, and laid them in rows, one upon another, within the circle, betweenthese two rows of stakes, up to the top, placing other stakes in the inside, leaning against them, about two feet and a halfhigh, like a spur to a post; and this fence was so strong, that neither man nor beastcould get into it or over it. this cost me a great deal of time andlabour, especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and drivethem into the earth. the entrance into this place i made to be,not by a door, but by a short ladder to go

over the top; which ladder, when i was in,i lifted over after me; and so i was completely fenced in and fortified, as i thought, from all the world, andconsequently slept secure in the night, which otherwise i could not have done;though, as it appeared afterwards, there was no need of all this caution from theenemies that i apprehended danger from. into this fence or fortress, with infinitelabour, i carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, ofwhich you have the account above; and i made a large tent, which to preserve me from the rains that in one part of the yearare very violent there, i made double-one

smaller tent within, and one larger tentabove it; and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which i had saved amongthe sails. and now i lay no more for a while in thebed which i had brought on shore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a very good one,and belonged to the mate of the ship. into this tent i brought all my provisions,and everything that would spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, imade up the entrance, which till now i had left open, and so passed and repassed, as isaid, by a short ladder. when i had done this, i began to work myway into the rock, and bringing all the earth and stones that i dug down outthrough my tent, i laid them up within my

fence, in the nature of a terrace, so that it raised the ground within about a footand a half; and thus i made me a cave, just behind my tent, which served me like acellar to my house. it cost me much labour and many days beforeall these things were brought to perfection; and therefore i must go back tosome other things which took up some of my thoughts. at the same time it happened, after i hadlaid my scheme for the setting up my tent, and making the cave, that a storm of rainfalling from a thick, dark cloud, a sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that

a great clap of thunder, as is naturallythe effect of it. i was not so much surprised with thelightning as i was with the thought which darted into my mind as swift as thelightning itself-oh, my powder! my very heart sank within me when i thoughtthat, at one blast, all my powder might be destroyed; on which, not my defence only,but the providing my food, as i thought, entirely depended. i was nothing near so anxious about my owndanger, though, had the powder took fire, i should never have known who had hurt me. such impression did this make upon me, thatafter the storm was over i laid aside all

my works, my building and fortifying, andapplied myself to make bags and boxes, to separate the powder, and to keep it a little and a little in a parcel, in thehope that, whatever might come, it might not all take fire at once; and to keep itso apart that it should not be possible to make one part fire another. i finished this work in about a fortnight;and i think my powder, which in all was about two hundred and forty pounds weight,was divided in not less than a hundred parcels. as to the barrel that had been wet, i didnot apprehend any danger from that; so i

placed it in my new cave, which, in myfancy, i called my kitchen; and the rest i hid up and down in holes among the rocks, so that no wet might come to it, markingvery carefully where i laid it. in the interval of time while this wasdoing, i went out once at least every day with my gun, as well to divert myself as tosee if i could kill anything fit for food; and, as near as i could, to acquaint myselfwith what the island produced. the first time i went out, i presentlydiscovered that there were goats in the island, which was a great satisfaction tome; but then it was attended with this misfortune to me-viz. that they were so

shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot, thatit was the most difficult thing in the world to come at them; but i was notdiscouraged at this, not doubting but i might now and then shoot one, as it soon happened; for after i had found theirhaunts a little, i laid wait in this manner for them: i observed if they saw me in thevalleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away, as in a terrible fright; but if they were feeding in thevalleys, and i was upon the rocks, they took no notice of me; from whence iconcluded that, by the position of their optics, their sight was so directed

downward that they did not readily seeobjects that were above them; so afterwards i took this method-i always climbed therocks first, to get above them, and then had frequently a fair mark. the first shot i made among thesecreatures, i killed a she-goat, which had a little kid by her, which she gave suck to,which grieved me heartily; for when the old one fell, the kid stood stock still by her, till i came and took her up; and not onlyso, but when i carried the old one with me, upon my shoulders, the kid followed mequite to my enclosure; upon which i laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms,

and carried it over my pale, in hopes tohave bred it up tame; but it would not eat; so i was forced to kill it and eat itmyself. these two supplied me with flesh a greatwhile, for i ate sparingly, and saved my provisions, my bread especially, as much aspossibly i could. having now fixed my habitation, i found itabsolutely necessary to provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn: and whati did for that, and also how i enlarged my cave, and what conveniences i made, i shall give a full account of in its place; but imust now give some little account of myself, and of my thoughts about living,which, it may well be supposed, were not a

few. i had a dismal prospect of my condition;for as i was not cast away upon that island without being driven, as is said, by aviolent storm, quite out of the course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz. some hundreds of leagues, out of theordinary course of the trade of mankind, i had great reason to consider it as adetermination of heaven, that in this desolate place, and in this desolatemanner, i should end my life. the tears would run plentifully down myface when i made these reflections; and sometimes i would expostulate with myselfwhy providence should thus completely ruin

his creatures, and render them so absolutely miserable; so without help,abandoned, so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful forsuch a life. but something always returned swift upon meto check these thoughts, and to reprove me; and particularly one day, walking with mygun in my hand by the seaside, i was very pensive upon the subject of my present condition, when reason, as it were,expostulated with me the other way, thus: "well, you are in a desolate condition, itis true; but, pray remember, where are the rest of you?

did not you come, eleven of you in theboat? where are the ten?why were they not saved, and you lost? why were you singled out? is it better to be here or there?" andthen i pointed to the sea. all evils are to be considered with thegood that is in them, and with what worse attends them. then it occurred to me again, how well iwas furnished for my subsistence, and what would have been my case if it had nothappened (which was a hundred thousand to one) that the ship floated from the place

where she first struck, and was driven sonear to the shore that i had time to get all these things out of her; what wouldhave been my case, if i had been forced to have lived in the condition in which i at first came on shore, without necessaries oflife, or necessaries to supply and procure them? "particularly," said i, aloud (though tomyself), "what should i have done without a gun, without ammunition, without any toolsto make anything, or to work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent, or any manner of covering?" and that now i had all these tosufficient quantity, and was in a fair way

to provide myself in such a manner as tolive without my gun, when my ammunition was spent: so that i had a tolerable view of subsisting, without any want, as long as ilived; for i considered from the beginning how i would provide for the accidents thatmight happen, and for the time that was to come, even not only after my ammunition should be spent, but even after my healthand strength should decay. i confess i had not entertained any notionof my ammunition being destroyed at one blast-i mean my powder being blown up bylightning; and this made the thoughts of it so surprising to me, when it lightened andthundered, as i observed just now.

and now being about to enter into amelancholy relation of a scene of silent life, such, perhaps, as was never heard ofin the world before, i shall take it from its beginning, and continue it in itsorder. it was by my account the 30th of september,when, in the manner as above said, i first set foot upon this horrid island; when thesun, being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost over my head; for i reckoned myself, by observation, to be in thelatitude of nine degrees twenty-two minutes north of the line. after i had been there about ten or twelvedays, it came into my thoughts that i

should lose my reckoning of time for wantof books, and pen and ink, and should even forget the sabbath days; but to prevent this, i cut with my knife upon a largepost, in capital letters-and making it into a great cross, i set it up on the shorewhere i first landed-"i came on shore here on the 30th september 1659." upon the sides of this square post i cutevery day a notch with my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again as therest, and every first day of the month as long again as that long one; and thus i kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, andyearly reckoning of time.

in the next place, we are to observe thatamong the many things which i brought out of the ship, in the several voyages which,as above mentioned, i made to it, i got several things of less value, but not at all less useful to me, which i omittedsetting down before; as, in particular, pens, ink, and paper, several parcels inthe captain's, mate's, gunner's and carpenter's keeping; three or four compasses, some mathematical instruments,dials, perspectives, charts, and books of navigation, all which i huddled together,whether i might want them or no; also, i found three very good bibles, which came to

me in my cargo from england, and which ihad packed up among my things; some portuguese books also; and among them twoor three popish prayer-books, and several other books, all which i carefully secured. and i must not forget that we had in theship a dog and two cats, of whose eminent history i may have occasion to saysomething in its place; for i carried both the cats with me; and as for the dog, he jumped out of the ship of himself, and swamon shore to me the day after i went on shore with my first cargo, and was a trustyservant to me many years; i wanted nothing that he could fetch me, nor any company

that he could make up to me; i only wantedto have him talk to me, but that would not do. as i observed before, i found pens, ink,and paper, and i husbanded them to the utmost; and i shall show that while my inklasted, i kept things very exact, but after that was gone i could not, for i could not make any ink by any means that i coulddevise. and this put me in mind that i wanted manythings notwithstanding all that i had amassed together; and of these, ink wasone; as also a spade, pickaxe, and shovel, to dig or remove the earth; needles, pins,

and thread; as for linen, i soon learned towant that without much difficulty. this want of tools made every work i did goon heavily; and it was near a whole year before i had entirely finished my littlepale, or surrounded my habitation. the piles, or stakes, which were as heavyas i could well lift, were a long time in cutting and preparing in the woods, andmore, by far, in bringing home; so that i spent sometimes two days in cutting and bringing home one of those posts, and athird day in driving it into the ground; for which purpose i got a heavy piece ofwood at first, but at last bethought myself of one of the iron crows; which, however,

though i found it, made driving those postsor piles very laborious and tedious work. but what need i have been concerned at thetediousness of anything i had to do, seeing i had time enough to do it in? nor had iany other employment, if that had been over, at least that i could foresee, except the ranging the island to seek for food,which i did, more or less, every day. i now began to consider seriously mycondition, and the circumstances i was reduced to; and i drew up the state of myaffairs in writing, not so much to leave them to any that were to come after me-for i was likely to have but few heirs-as todeliver my thoughts from daily poring over

them, and afflicting my mind; and as myreason began now to master my despondency, i began to comfort myself as well as i could, and to set the good against theevil, that i might have something to distinguish my case from worse; and istated very impartially, like debtor and creditor, the comforts i enjoyed againstthe miseries i suffered, thus:- on the evil side.i am cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope of recovery. on the good side.but i am alive; and not drowned, as all my ship's company were.

evil i am singled out and separated, as itwere, from all the world, to be miserable. good but i am singled out, too, from allthe ship's crew, to be spared from death; and he that miraculously saved me fromdeath can deliver me from this condition. evil i am divided from mankind-a solitaire;one banished from human society. good but i am not starved, and perishing ona barren place, affording no sustenance. evil i have no clothes to cover me. good but i am in a hot climate, where, if ihad clothes, i could hardly wear them. evil i am without any defence, or means toresist any violence of man or beast. good but i am cast on an island where i seeno wild beasts to hurt me, as i saw on the

coast of africa; and what if i had beenshipwrecked there? evil i have no soul to speak to or relieveme. good but god wonderfully sent the ship innear enough to the shore, that i have got out as many necessary things as will eithersupply my wants or enable me to supply myself, even as long as i live. upon the whole, here was an undoubtedtestimony that there was scarce any condition in the world so miserable butthere was something negative or something positive to be thankful for in it; and let this stand as a direction from theexperience of the most miserable of all

conditions in this world: that we mayalways find in it something to comfort ourselves from, and to set, in the description of good and evil, on the creditside of the account. having now brought my mind a little torelish my condition, and given over looking out to sea, to see if i could spy a ship-isay, giving over these things, i began to apply myself to arrange my way of living, and to make things as easy to me as icould. i have already described my habitation,which was a tent under the side of a rock, surrounded with a strong pale of posts andcables: but i might now rather call it a

wall, for i raised a kind of wall up against it of turfs, about two feet thickon the outside; and after some time (i think it was a year and a half) i raisedrafters from it, leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it with boughs of trees, and such things as i could get, tokeep out the rain; which i found at some times of the year very violent. i have already observed how i brought allmy goods into this pale, and into the cave which i had made behind me. but i must observe, too, that at first thiswas a confused heap of goods, which, as

they lay in no order, so they took up allmy place; i had no room to turn myself: so i set myself to enlarge my cave, and work farther into the earth; for it was a loosesandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour i bestowed on it: and so when ifound i was pretty safe as to beasts of prey, i worked sideways, to the right hand, into the rock; and then, turning to theright again, worked quite out, and made me a door to come out on the outside of mypale or fortification. this gave me not only egress and regress,as it was a back way to my tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room to store mygoods.

and now i began to apply myself to makesuch necessary things as i found i most wanted, particularly a chair and a table;for without these i was not able to enjoy the few comforts i had in the world; i could not write or eat, or do severalthings, with so much pleasure without a table: so i went to work. and here i must needs observe, that asreason is the substance and origin of the mathematics, so by stating and squaringeverything by reason, and by making the most rational judgment of things, every man may be, in time, master of every mechanicart.

i had never handled a tool in my life; andyet, in time, by labour, application, and contrivance, i found at last that i wantednothing but i could have made it, especially if i had had tools. however, i made abundance of things, evenwithout tools; and some with no more tools than an adze and a hatchet, which perhapswere never made that way before, and that with infinite labour. for example, if i wanted a board, i had noother way but to cut down a tree, set it on an edge before me, and hew it flat oneither side with my axe, till i brought it to be thin as a plank, and then dub itsmooth with my adze.

it is true, by this method i could make butone board out of a whole tree; but this i had no remedy for but patience, any morethan i had for the prodigious deal of time and labour which it took me up to make a plank or board: but my time or labour waslittle worth, and so it was as well employed one way as another. however, i made me a table and a chair, asi observed above, in the first place; and this i did out of the short pieces ofboards that i brought on my raft from the ship. but when i had wrought out some boards asabove, i made large shelves, of the breadth

of a foot and a half, one over another allalong one side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails and ironwork on; and, in a word, to separate everything at large intotheir places, that i might come easily at them. i knocked pieces into the wall of the rockto hang my guns and all things that would hang up; so that, had my cave been to beseen, it looked like a general magazine of all necessary things; and had everything so ready at my hand, that it was a greatpleasure to me to see all my goods in such order, and especially to find my stock ofall necessaries so great.

and now it was that i began to keep ajournal of every day's employment; for, indeed, at first i was in too much hurry,and not only hurry as to labour, but in too much discomposure of mind; and my journal would have been full of many dull things;for example, i must have said thus: "30th.- after i had got to shore, and escapeddrowning, instead of being thankful to god for my deliverance, having first vomited, with the great quantity of salt water whichhad got into my stomach, and recovering myself a little, i ran about the shorewringing my hands and beating my head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying

out, 'i was undone, undone!' till, tiredand faint, i was forced to lie down on the ground to repose, but durst not sleep forfear of being devoured." some days after this, and after i had beenon board the ship, and got all that i could out of her, yet i could not forbear gettingup to the top of a little mountain and looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a ship; then fancy at a vast distance i spieda sail, please myself with the hopes of it, and then after looking steadily, till i wasalmost blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like a child, and thus increase mymisery by my folly. but having gotten over these things in somemeasure, and having settled my household

staff and habitation, made me a table and achair, and all as handsome about me as i could, i began to keep my journal; of which i shall here give you the copy (though init will be told all these particulars over again) as long as it lasted; for having nomore ink, i was forced to leave it off.