________________________________________________
_ HAVING now brought all my things on shore and secured them, I went
back to my boat, and rowed or paddled her along the shore to her
old harbour, where I laid her up, and made the best of my way to my
old habitation, where I found everything safe and quiet. I began
now to repose myself, live after my old fashion, and take care of
my family affairs; and for a while I lived easy enough, only that I
was more vigilant than I used to be, looked out oftener, and did
not go abroad so much; and if at any time I did stir with any
freedom, it was always to the east part of the island, where I was
pretty well satisfied the savages never came, and where I could go
without so many precautions, and such a load of arms and ammunition
as I always carried with me if I went the other way. I lived in
this condition near two years more; but my unlucky head, that was
always to let me know it was born to make my body miserable, was
all these two years filled with projects and designs how, if it
were possible, I might get away from this island: for sometimes I
was for making another voyage to the wreck, though my reason told
me that there was nothing left there worth the hazard of my voyage;
sometimes for a ramble one way, sometimes another - and I believe
verily, if I had had the boat that I went from Sallee in, I should
have ventured to sea, bound anywhere, I knew not whither. I have
been, in all my circumstances, a memento to those who are touched
with the general plague of mankind, whence, for aught I know, one
half of their miseries flow: I mean that of not being satisfied
with the station wherein God and Nature hath placed them - for, not
to look back upon my primitive condition, and the excellent advice
of my father, the opposition to which was, as I may call it, my
ORIGINAL SIN, my subsequent mistakes of the same kind had been the
means of my coming into this miserable condition; for had that
Providence which so happily seated me at the Brazils as a planter
blessed me with confined desires, and I could have been contented
to have gone on gradually, I might have been by this time - I mean
in the time of my being in this island - one of the most
considerable planters in the Brazils - nay, I am persuaded, that by
the improvements I had made in that little time I lived there, and
the increase I should probably have made if I had remained, I might
have been worth a hundred thousand moidores - and what business had
I to leave a settled fortune, a well-stocked plantation, improving
and increasing, to turn supercargo to Guinea to fetch negroes, when
patience and time would have so increased our stock at home, that
we could have bought them at our own door from those whose business
it was to fetch them? and though it had cost us something more, yet
the difference of that price was by no means worth saving at so
great a hazard. But as this is usually the fate of young heads, so
reflection upon the folly of it is as commonly the exercise of more
years, or of the dear-bought experience of time - so it was with me
now; and yet so deep had the mistake taken root in my temper, that
I could not satisfy myself in my station, but was continually
poring upon the means and possibility of my escape from this place;
and that I may, with greater pleasure to the reader, bring on the
remaining part of my story, it may not be improper to give some
account of my first conceptions on the subject of this foolish
scheme for my escape, and how, and upon what foundation, I acted.
I am now to be supposed retired into my castle, after my late
voyage to the wreck, my frigate laid up and secured under water, as
usual, and my condition restored to what it was before: I had more
wealth, indeed, than I had before, but was not at all the richer;
for I had no more use for it than the Indians of Peru had before
the Spaniards came there.
It was one of the nights in the rainy season in March, the four-
and-twentieth year of my first setting foot in this island of
solitude, I was lying in my bed or hammock, awake, very well in
health, had no pain, no distemper, no uneasiness of body, nor any
uneasiness of mind more than ordinary, but could by no means close
my eyes, that is, so as to sleep; no, not a wink all night long,
otherwise than as follows: It is impossible to set down the
innumerable crowd of thoughts that whirled through that great
thoroughfare of the brain, the memory, in this night's time. I ran
over the whole history of my life in miniature, or by abridgment,
as I may call it, to my coming to this island, and also of that
part of my life since I came to this island. In my reflections
upon the state of my case since I came on shore on this island, I
was comparing the happy posture of my affairs in the first years of
my habitation here, with the life of anxiety, fear, and care which
I had lived in ever since I had seen the print of a foot in the
sand. Not that I did not believe the savages had frequented the
island even all the while, and might have been several hundreds of
them at times on shore there; but I had never known it, and was
incapable of any apprehensions about it; my satisfaction was
perfect, though my danger was the same, and I was as happy in not
knowing my danger as if I had never really been exposed to it.
This furnished my thoughts with many very profitable reflections,
and particularly this one: How infinitely good that Providence is,
which has provided, in its government of mankind, such narrow
bounds to his sight and knowledge of things; and though he walks in
the midst of so many thousand dangers, the sight of which, if
discovered to him, would distract his mind and sink his spirits, he
is kept serene and calm, by having the events of things hid from
his eyes, and knowing nothing of the dangers which surround him.
After these thoughts had for some time entertained me, I came to
reflect seriously upon the real danger I had been in for so many
years in this very island, and how I had walked about in the
greatest security, and with all possible tranquillity, even when
perhaps nothing but the brow of a hill, a great tree, or the casual
approach of night, had been between me and the worst kind of
destruction - viz. that of falling into the hands of cannibals and
savages, who would have seized on me with the same view as I would
on a goat or turtle; and have thought it no more crime to kill and
devour me than I did of a pigeon or a curlew. I would unjustly
slander myself if I should say I was not sincerely thankful to my
great Preserver, to whose singular protection I acknowledged, with
great humanity, all these unknown deliverances were due, and
without which I must inevitably have fallen into their merciless
hands.
When these thoughts were over, my head was for some time taken up
in considering the nature of these wretched creatures, I mean the
savages, and how it came to pass in the world that the wise
Governor of all things should give up any of His creatures to such
inhumanity - nay, to something so much below even brutality itself
- as to devour its own kind: but as this ended in some (at that
time) fruitless speculations, it occurred to me to inquire what
part of the world these wretches lived in? how far off the coast
was from whence they came? what they ventured over so far from home
for? what kind of boats they had? and why I might not order myself
and my business so that I might be able to go over thither, as they
were to come to me?
I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I should do
with myself when I went thither; what would become of me if I fell
into the hands of these savages; or how I should escape them if
they attacked me; no, nor so much as how it was possible for me to
reach the coast, and not to be attacked by some or other of them,
without any possibility of delivering myself: and if I should not
fall into their hands, what I should do for provision, or whither I
should bend my course: none of these thoughts, I say, so much as
came in my way; but my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my
passing over in my boat to the mainland. I looked upon my present
condition as the most miserable that could possibly be; that I was
not able to throw myself into anything but death, that could be
called worse; and if I reached the shore of the main I might
perhaps meet with relief, or I might coast along, as I did on the
African shore, till I came to some inhabited country, and where I
might find some relief; and after all, perhaps I might fall in with
some Christian ship that might take me in: and if the worst came to
the worst, I could but die, which would put an end to all these
miseries at once. Pray note, all this was the fruit of a disturbed
mind, an impatient temper, made desperate, as it were, by the long
continuance of my troubles, and the disappointments I had met in
the wreck I had been on board of, and where I had been so near
obtaining what I so earnestly longed for - somebody to speak to,
and to learn some knowledge from them of the place where I was, and
of the probable means of my deliverance. I was agitated wholly by
these thoughts; all my calm of mind, in my resignation to
Providence, and waiting the issue of the dispositions of Heaven,
seemed to be suspended; and I had as it were no power to turn my
thoughts to anything but to the project of a voyage to the main,
which came upon me with such force, and such an impetuosity of
desire, that it was not to be resisted.
When this had agitated my thoughts for two hours or more, with such
violence that it set my very blood into a ferment, and my pulse
beat as if I had been in a fever, merely with the extraordinary
fervour of my mind about it, Nature - as if I had been fatigued and
exhausted with the very thoughts of it - threw me into a sound
sleep. One would have thought I should have dreamed of it, but I
did not, nor of anything relating to it, but I dreamed that as I
was going out in the morning as usual from my castle, I saw upon
the shore two canoes and eleven savages coming to land, and that
they brought with them another savage whom they were going to kill
in order to eat him; when, on a sudden, the savage that they were
going to kill jumped away, and ran for his life; and I thought in
my sleep that he came running into my little thick grove before my
fortification, to hide himself; and that I seeing him alone, and
not perceiving that the others sought him that way, showed myself
to him, and smiling upon him, encouraged him: that he kneeled down
to me, seeming to pray me to assist him; upon which I showed him my
ladder, made him go up, and carried him into my cave, and he became
my servant; and that as soon as I had got this man, I said to
myself, "Now I may certainly venture to the mainland, for this
fellow will serve me as a pilot, and will tell me what to do, and
whither to go for provisions, and whither not to go for fear of
being devoured; what places to venture into, and what to shun." I
waked with this thought; and was under such inexpressible
impressions of joy at the prospect of my escape in my dream, that
the disappointments which I felt upon coming to myself, and finding
that it was no more than a dream, were equally extravagant the
other way, and threw me into a very great dejection of spirits.
Upon this, however, I made this conclusion: that my only way to go
about to attempt an escape was, to endeavour to get a savage into
my possession: and, if possible, it should be one of their
prisoners, whom they had condemned to be eaten, and should bring
hither to kill. But these thoughts still were attended with this
difficulty: that it was impossible to effect this without attacking
a whole caravan of them, and killing them all; and this was not
only a very desperate attempt, and might miscarry, but, on the
other hand, I had greatly scrupled the lawfulness of it to myself;
and my heart trembled at the thoughts of shedding so much blood,
though it was for my deliverance. I need not repeat the arguments
which occurred to me against this, they being the same mentioned
before; but though I had other reasons to offer now - viz. that
those men were enemies to my life, and would devour me if they
could; that it was self-preservation, in the highest degree, to
deliver myself from this death of a life, and was acting in my own
defence as much as if they were actually assaulting me, and the
like; I say though these things argued for it, yet the thoughts of
shedding human blood for my deliverance were very terrible to me,
and such as I could by no means reconcile myself to for a great
while. However, at last, after many secret disputes with myself,
and after great perplexities about it (for all these arguments, one
way and another, struggled in my head a long time), the eager
prevailing desire of deliverance at length mastered all the rest;
and I resolved, if possible, to get one of these savages into my
hands, cost what it would. My next thing was to contrive how to do
it, and this, indeed, was very difficult to resolve on; but as I
could pitch upon no probable means for it, so I resolved to put
myself upon the watch, to see them when they came on shore, and
leave the rest to the event; taking such measures as the
opportunity should present, let what would be.
With these resolutions in my thoughts, I set myself upon the scout
as often as possible, and indeed so often that I was heartily tired
of it; for it was above a year and a half that I waited; and for
great part of that time went out to the west end, and to the south-
west corner of the island almost every day, to look for canoes, but
none appeared. This was very discouraging, and began to trouble me
much, though I cannot say that it did in this case (as it had done
some time before) wear off the edge of my desire to the thing; but
the longer it seemed to be delayed, the more eager I was for it: in
a word, I was not at first so careful to shun the sight of these
savages, and avoid being seen by them, as I was now eager to be
upon them. Besides, I fancied myself able to manage one, nay, two
or three savages, if I had them, so as to make them entirely slaves
to me, to do whatever I should direct them, and to prevent their
being able at any time to do me any hurt. It was a great while
that I pleased myself with this affair; but nothing still presented
itself; all my fancies and schemes came to nothing, for no savages
came near me for a great while.
About a year and a half after I entertained these notions (and by
long musing had, as it were, resolved them all into nothing, for
want of an occasion to put them into execution), I was surprised
one morning by seeing no less than five canoes all on shore
together on my side the island, and the people who belonged to them
all landed and out of my sight. The number of them broke all my
measures; for seeing so many, and knowing that they always came
four or six, or sometimes more in a boat, I could not tell what to
think of it, or how to take my measures to attack twenty or thirty
men single-handed; so lay still in my castle, perplexed and
discomforted. However, I put myself into the same position for an
attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready for action,
if anything had presented. Having waited a good while, listening
to hear if they made any noise, at length, being very impatient, I
set my guns at the foot of my ladder, and .clambered up to the top
of the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however, that
my head did not appear above the hill, so that they could not
perceive me by any means. Here I observed, by the help of my
perspective glass, that they were no less than thirty in number;
that they had a fire kindled, and that they had meat dressed. How
they had cooked it I knew not, or what it was; but they were all
dancing, in I know not how many barbarous gestures and figures,
their own way, round the fire.
While I was thus looking on them, I perceived, by my perspective,
two miserable wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems,
they were laid by, and were now brought out for the slaughter. I
perceived one of them immediately fall; being knocked down, I
suppose, with a club or wooden sword, for that was their way; and
two or three others were at work immediately, cutting him open for
their cookery, while the other victim was left standing by himself,
till they should be ready for him. In that very moment this poor
wretch, seeing himself a little at liberty and unbound, Nature
inspired him with hopes of life, and he started away from them, and
ran with incredible swiftness along the sands, directly towards me;
I mean towards that part of the coast where my habitation was. I
was dreadfully frightened, I must acknowledge, when I perceived him
run my way; and especially when, as I thought, I saw him pursued by
the whole body: and now I expected that part of my dream was coming
to pass, and that he would certainly take shelter in my grove; but
I could not depend, by any means, upon my dream, that the other
savages would not pursue him thither and find him there. However,
I kept my station, and my spirits began to recover when I found
that there was not above three men that followed him; and still
more was I encouraged, when I found that he outstripped them
exceedingly in running, and gained ground on them; so that, if he
could but hold out for half-an-hour, I saw easily he would fairly
get away from them all.
There was between them and my castle the creek, which I mentioned
often in the first part of my story, where I landed my cargoes out
of the ship; and this I saw plainly he must necessarily swim over,
or the poor wretch would be taken there; but when the savage
escaping came thither, he made nothing of it, though the tide was
then up; but plunging in, swam through in about thirty strokes, or
thereabouts, landed, and ran with exceeding strength and swiftness.
When the three persons came to the creek, I found that two of them
could swim, but the third could not, and that, standing on the
other side, he looked at the others, but went no farther, and soon
after went softly back again; which, as it happened, was very well
for him in the end. I observed that the two who swam were yet more
than twice as strong swimming over the creek as the fellow was that
fled from them. It came very warmly upon my thoughts, and indeed
irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a servant, and,
perhaps, a companion or assistant; and that I was plainly called by
Providence to save this poor creature's life. I immediately ran
down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns,
for they were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed
before, and getting up again with the same haste to the top of the
hill, I crossed towards the sea; and having a very short cut, and
all down hill, placed myself in the way between the pursuers and
the pursued, hallowing aloud to him that fled, who, looking back,
was at first perhaps as much frightened at me as at them; but I
beckoned with my hand to him to come back; and, in the meantime, I
slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once
upon the foremost, I knocked him down with the stock of my piece.
I was loath to fire, because I would not have the rest hear;
though, at that distance, it would not have been easily heard, and
being out of sight of the smoke, too, they would not have known
what to make of it. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who
pursued him stopped, as if he had been frightened, and I advanced
towards him: but as I came nearer, I perceived presently he had a
bow and arrow, and was fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then
obliged to shoot at him first, which I did, and killed him at the
first shot. The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he
saw both his enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so
frightened with the fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock
still, and neither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed
rather inclined still to fly than to come on. I hallooed again to
him, and made signs to come forward, which he easily understood,
and came a little way; then stopped again, and then a little
farther, and stopped again; and I could then perceive that he stood
trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner, and had just been to
be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned to him again to
come to me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I
could think of; and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every
ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment for saving his
life. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and beckoned to him
to come still nearer; at length he came close to me; and then he
kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head upon the
ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this,
it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave for ever. I took
him up and made much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But
there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the savage whom I
had knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and
began to come to himself: so I pointed to him, and showed him the
savage, that he was not dead; upon this he spoke some words to me,
and though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were
pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man's voice
that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty-five years.
But there was no time for such reflections now; the savage who was
knocked down recovered himself so far as to sit up upon the ground,
and I perceived that my savage began to be afraid; but when I saw
that, I presented my other piece at the man, as if I would shoot
him: upon this my savage, for so I call him now, made a motion to
me to lend him my sword, which hung naked in a belt by my side,
which I did. He no sooner had it, but he runs to his enemy, and at
one blow cut off his head so cleverly, no executioner in Germany
could have done it sooner or better; which I thought very strange
for one who, I had reason to believe, never saw a sword in his life
before, except their own wooden swords: however, it seems, as I
learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords so sharp, so
heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will even cut off heads
with them, ay, and arms, and that at one blow, too. When he had
done this, he comes laughing to me in sign of triumph, and brought
me the sword again, and with abundance of gestures which I did not
understand, laid it down, with the head of the savage that he had
killed, just before me. But that which astonished him most was to
know how I killed the other Indian so far off; so, pointing to him,
he made signs to me to let him go to him; and I bade him go, as
well as I could. When he came to him, he stood like one amazed,
looking at him, turning him first on one side, then on the other;
looked at the wound the bullet had made, which it seems was just in
his breast, where it had made a hole, and no great quantity of
blood had followed; but he had bled inwardly, for he was quite
dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and came back; so I turned to
go away, and beckoned him to follow me, making signs to him that
more might come after them. Upon this he made signs to me that he
should bury them with sand, that they might not be seen by the
rest, if they followed; and so I made signs to him again to do so.
He fell to work; and in an instant he had scraped a hole in the
sand with his hands big enough to bury the first in, and then
dragged him into it, and covered him; and did so by the other also;
I believe he had him buried them both in a quarter of an hour.
Then, calling away, I carried him, not to my castle, but quite away
to my cave, on the farther part of the island: so I did not let my
dream come to pass in that part, that he came into my grove for
shelter. Here I gave him bread and a bunch of raisins to eat, and
a draught of water, which I found he was indeed in great distress
for, from his running: and having refreshed him, I made signs for
him to go and lie down to sleep, showing him a place where I had
laid some rice-straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used to sleep
upon myself sometimes; so the poor creature lay down, and went to
sleep.
He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with
straight, strong limbs, not too large; tall, and well-shaped; and,
as I reckon, about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good
countenance, not a fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to have
something very manly in his face; and yet he had all the sweetness
and softness of a European in his countenance, too, especially when
he smiled. His hair was long and black, not curled like wool; his
forehead very high and large; and a great vivacity and sparkling
sharpness in his eyes. The colour of his skin was not quite black,
but very tawny; and yet not an ugly, yellow, nauseous tawny, as the
Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives of America are, but of
a bright kind of a dun olive-colour, that had in it something very
agreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face was round
and plump; his nose small, not flat, like the negroes; a very good
mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white as
ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half-an-hour, he
awoke again, and came out of the cave to me: for I had been milking
my goats which I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me he
came running to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with
all the possible signs of an humble, thankful disposition, making a
great many antic gestures to show it. At last he lays his head
flat upon the ground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon
his head, as he had done before; and after this made all the signs
to me of subjection, servitude, and submission imaginable, to let
me know how he would serve me so long as he lived. I understood
him in many things, and let him know I was very well pleased with
him. In a little time I began to speak to him; and teach him to
speak to me: and first, I let him know his name should be Friday,
which was the day I saved his life: I called him so for the memory
of the time. I likewise taught him to say Master; and then let him
know that was to be my name: I likewise taught him to say Yes and
No and to know the meaning of them. I gave him some milk in an
earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop my
bread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which he
quickly complied with, and made signs that it was very good for
him. I kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it was
day I beckoned to him to come with me, and let him know I would
give him some clothes; at which he seemed very glad, for he was
stark naked. As we went by the place where he had buried the two
men, he pointed exactly to the place, and showed me the marks that
he had made to find them again, making signs to me that we should
dig them up again and eat them. At this I appeared very angry,
expressed my abhorrence of it, made as if I would vomit at the
thoughts of it, and beckoned with my hand to him to come away,
which he did immediately, with great submission. I then led him up
to the top of the hill, to see if his enemies were gone; and
pulling out my glass I looked, and saw plainly the place where they
had been, but no appearance of them or their canoes; so that it was
plain they were gone, and had left their two comrades behind them,
without any search after them.
But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more
courage, and consequently more curiosity, I took my man Friday with
me, giving him the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows at
his back, which I found he could use very dexterously, making him
carry one gun for me, and I two for myself; and away we marched to
the place where these creatures had been; for I had a mind now to
get some further intelligence of them. When I came to the place my
very blood ran chill in my veins, and my heart sunk within me, at
the horror of the spectacle; indeed, it was a dreadful sight, at
least it was so to me, though Friday made nothing of it. The place
was covered with human bones, the ground dyed with their blood, and
great pieces of flesh left here and there, half-eaten, mangled, and
scorched; and, in short, all the tokens of the triumphant feast
they had been making there, after a victory over their enemies. I
saw three skulls, five hands, and the bones of three or four legs
and feet, and abundance of other parts of the bodies; and Friday,
by his signs, made me understand that they brought over four
prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were eaten up, and that
he, pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there had been a
great battle between them and their next king, of whose subjects,
it seems, he had been one, and that they had taken a great number
of prisoners; all which were carried to several places by those who
had taken them in the fight, in order to feast upon them, as was
done here by these wretches upon those they brought hither.
I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and
whatever remained, and lay them together in a heap, and make a
great fire upon it, and burn them all to ashes. I found Friday had
still a hankering stomach after some of the flesh, and was still a
cannibal in his nature; but I showed so much abhorrence at the very
thoughts of it, and at the least appearance of it, that he durst
not discover it: for I had, by some means, let him know that I
would kill him if he offered it.
When he had done this, we came back to our castle; and there I fell
to work for my man Friday; and first of all, I gave him a pair of
linen drawers, which I had out of the poor gunner's chest I
mentioned, which I found in the wreck, and which, with a little
alteration, fitted him very well; and then I made him a jerkin of
goat's skin, as well as my skill would allow (for I was now grown a
tolerably good tailor); and I gave him a cap which I made of hare's
skin, very convenient, and fashionable enough; and thus he was
clothed, for the present, tolerably well, and was mighty well
pleased to see himself almost as well clothed as his master. It is
true he went awkwardly in these clothes at first: wearing the
drawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the waistcoat
galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little
easing them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself to
them, he took to them at length very well.
The next day, after I came home to my hutch with him, I began to
consider where I should lodge him: and that I might do well for him
and yet be perfectly easy myself, I made a little tent for him in
the vacant place between my two fortifications, in the inside of
the last, and in the outside of the first. As there was a door or
entrance there into my cave, I made a formal framed door-case, and
a door to it, of boards, and set it up in the passage, a little
within the entrance; and, causing the door to open in the inside, I
barred it up in the night, taking in my ladders, too; so that
Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost wall,
without making so much noise in getting over that it must needs
awaken me; for my first wall had now a complete roof over it of
long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to the side of the
hill; which was again laid across with smaller sticks, instead of
laths, and then thatched over a great thickness with the rice-
straw, which was strong, like reeds; and at the hole or place which
was left to go in or out by the ladder I had placed a kind of trap-
door, which, if it had been attempted on the outside, would not
have opened at all, but would have fallen down and made a great
noise - as to weapons, I took them all into my side every night.
But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more
faithful, loving, sincere servant than Friday was to me: without
passions, sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and engaged;
his very affections were tied to me, like those of a child to a
father; and I daresay he would have sacrificed his life to save
mine upon any occasion whatsoever - the many testimonies he gave me
of this put it out of doubt, and soon convinced me that I needed to
use no precautions for my safety on his account.
This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder,
that however it had pleased God in His providence, and in the
government of the works of His hands, to take from so great a part
of the world of His creatures the best uses to which their
faculties and the powers of their souls are adapted, yet that He
has bestowed upon them the same powers, the same reason, the same
affections, the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the
same passions and resentments of wrongs, the same sense of
gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities of doing
good and receiving good that He has given to us; and that when He
pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as
ready, nay, more ready, to apply them to the right uses for which
they were bestowed than we are. This made me very melancholy
sometimes, in reflecting, as the several occasions presented, how
mean a use we make of all these, even though we have these powers
enlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God,
and by the knowledge of His word added to our understanding; and
why it has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so
many millions of souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage,
would make a much better use of it than we did. From hence I
sometimes was led too far, to invade the sovereignty of Providence,
and, as it were, arraign the justice of so arbitrary a disposition
of things, that should hide that sight from some, and reveal it -
to others, and yet expect a like duty from both; but I shut it up,
and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: first, that we did
not know by what light and law these should be condemned; but that
as God was necessarily, and by the nature of His being, infinitely
holy and just, so it could not be, but if these creatures were all
sentenced to absence from Himself, it was on account of sinning
against that light which, as the Scripture says, was a law to
themselves, and by such rules as their consciences would
acknowledge to be just, though the foundation was not discovered to
us; and secondly, that still as we all are the clay in the hand of
the potter, no vessel could say to him, "Why hast thou formed me
thus?"
But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with
him, and made it my business to teach him everything that was
proper to make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to
make him speak, and understand me when I spoke; and he was the
aptest scholar that ever was; and particularly was so merry, so
constantly diligent, and so pleased when he could but understand
me, or make me understand him, that it was very pleasant for me to
talk to him. Now my life began to be so easy that I began to say
to myself that could I but have been safe from more savages, I
cared not if I was never to remove from the place where I lived. _
Read next: CHAPTER XV - FRIDAY'S EDUCATION
Read previous: CHAPTER XIII - WRECK OF A SPANISH SHIP
Table of content of Robinson Crusoe
GO TO TOP OF SCREEN
Post your review
Your review will be placed after the table of content of this book
