August 8, 2025 • 58 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter four. First weeks on the island. When I waked,
it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated,
so that the sea did not rage and swell as before.
But that which surprised me most was that the ship
was lifted off in the night from the sand where
(00:21):
she lay by the swelling of the tide, and was
driven up almost as far as the rock which I
had first mentioned where I had been so bruised by
the wave dashing me against it. This being within about
a mile from the shore where I was, and the
ship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself on
(00:43):
board that at least I might save some necessary things
for my use. When I came down from my apartment
in the tree, I looked about me again, and the
first thing I found was the boat, which lay as
the wind and the sea had tossed upon the land,
about two miles on my right hand. I walked as
(01:05):
far as I could upon the shore to have got
to her, but found a neck or inlet of water
between me and the boat, which was about half a
mile broad. So I came back for the present, being
more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped
to find something for my present subsistence. A little afternoon
(01:28):
I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed
so far out that I could come within a quarter
of a mile of the ship. And here I found
a fresh renewing of my grief, for I saw evidently
that if we had kept on board, we had all
been safe, that is to say, we had all got
(01:49):
safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable
as to be left entirely destitute of all comfort and company,
as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again.
But as there was little relief in that, I resolved,
if possible to get to the ship. So I pulled
off my clothes, for the weather was so hot to
(02:13):
an extremity, and took the water. But when I came
to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know
how to get on board, for as she lay aground
and high out of the water, there was nothing within
my reach to lay hold of. I swam around her twice,
and the second time I spied a small piece of rope,
(02:34):
which I wondered I did not see at first, hung
down by 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 the forecastle
of the ship. Here I found that the ship was
bulged and had a great deal of water in her hold,
(02:57):
but that she lay so on the side of a
of hard sand, or rather earth, that her stern lay
lifted up upon the bank, and her head low almost
to the water. By this means all her quarter was free,
and all that was in that part was dry. For
you may be sure, my first work was to search
(03:20):
and to see what was spoiled and what was free.
And first I found that all the ship's provisions 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 to lose.
(03:44):
I also found some rum in the great cabin, of
which I took a large dram and which I had
indeed need enough to spirit me for what was before me.
Now I wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself
with many things, which I foresaw would be very necessary
to me. It was in vain to sit still and
(04:06):
wish for what was not to be had, And this
extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards and
two or three large spars of wood, and a spare
top mast or two in the ship. I resolved to
work to fall with these, and I flung as many
of them overboard as I could manage for their weight,
(04:28):
tying everyone with a rope that they may not drive away.
When this was done, I went down the ship's side,
and pulling them to me, I tied four of them
together at both ends as well as I could, in
the form of a raft, and laying two or three
short pieces of plank upon them crossways. I found I
(04:48):
could walk upon it very well, but that it was
not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being
too light. So I went to work, and with the
carpenter saw, I cut a spare top mast into three
lengths and added them to my raft. With a great
deal of labor and pains, but the hope of furnishing
(05:09):
myself with necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I
should have been able to have done. Upon another occasion.
My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight.
My next care was what to loaded with and how
to preserve what I had laid upon it from the
surf of the sea. But I was not long considering this.
(05:30):
I first laid all the planks or boards upon it
that I could get. Having considered well what I most wanted,
I got three of the seamen's chests which had been
broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft.
The first of these I filled with provisions, that is,
(05:51):
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 to see with us. But the fowls
were killed. There had been some barley and wheat together,
(06:12):
but to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the
rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors,
I found several cases of bottles belonging to our skipper,
in which were some cordial waters, and in all about
five or six gallons of wreck. These I stowed by themselves,
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there being no need to put them into the chest,
nor any room for them. While I was doing this,
I found the tide begin 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
(06:56):
only linen and open kneed, I swam on board in
them and my stockings. However, this set me rummaging for clothes,
of which I found enough, but took no more than
I wanted for present use, for I had other things
which my eye was more upon as first tools to
work with when on shore. And it was after long
(07:20):
searching that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was
indeed a very useful prize to me, and much more
valuable than a ship load 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
(07:40):
care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two
very good following pieces in the 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 powder in the ship,
but I knew not where our gunner had stowed them.
(08:03):
But with much much search, I found them, two of
them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those
two I got to my raft with my arms, and
now I thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to
think how I should get on shore with them. Having
neither sailor nor rudder, and the least capful of wind
(08:25):
would have overset all my navigation. I had three encouragements. First,
a smooth, calm sea. Secondly the tide rising and setting
in to the shore. Thirdly, what little wind there was
blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two
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or three broken oars belonging to the boat, and besides
the tools which were in the chest, I found two saws,
and axe and a hammer. With this cargo I put
to sea for a mile or there thereabouts. My raft
went very well, only that I found it drive a
little distant from the place where I had landed before,
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by which I perceived that there was some in draft
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 opening of the land and I found a
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strong current of the tide set into it. So I
guided my raft as well as I could to keep
in the middle of the stream. But here I had
liked to have suffered a second 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
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end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground
at the other end, it wanted but a little that
all my cargo had slipped off towards the en, and
that was afloat, and to fall into the water. I
did my utmost by setting my back against the chests
to keep them in their places. But I could not
(10:12):
thrust off the raft with all my strength, neither durst
I stir from the posture I was in, but holding
up the chests with all my might. I stood in
that manner near half an hour, in which time the
rising of the water brought me a little more upon
a level, And a little after the water, still rising,
my raft floated again, and I thrust her off with
(10:35):
the oar I had into the channel, and then driving
up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth
of a little river, with land on both sides, and
a strong current of tide running up. I looked on
both sides for a proper place to get to shore,
for I was not willing to be driven too high
up the river, hoping in time to see some ships
(10:56):
at sea, and therefore resolved to place my sel as
near the coast as I could. At length I spied
a little cove on the right shore of the creek,
to which, with great pain and difficulty, I guided my
raft and at last got so near that reaching ground
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with my oar I could thrust her directly in. But
here I had liked to have dipped all my cargo
into the sea again, for that shore buying pretty steep,
that is to say, sloping, there was no place to land,
and where one end of my float, if it ran
on shore, would lie so high and the others sink lower.
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As before that it would endanger my cargo. Once again.
All that I could do was to wait till the
tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my
oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it
fast to the shore near a flat piece of ground
which I expected the water would flow over, And so
(12:00):
it did. As soon as I found water enough for
my raft drew about a foot of water. I thrust
her upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened
or moored her by sticking my two broken oars into
the ground, one on one side near the end, and
one on the other side near the other end. And
(12:21):
thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left
my raft and all my cargo safe on shore. My
next work was to view the country and seek a
proper place for my habitation, and where to stow my goods,
to secure them from whatever might happen. Where I was,
(12:41):
I yet knew not whether on the continent or on
an island, whether inhabited or not inhabited, whether in danger
of wild beasts or not. There was a hill not
a mile above me, which rose up very steep and high,
and which to overtop some other hills which lay as
(13:03):
in a ridge from it northward. I took out one
of the fowling pieces, and one of the pistols, and
a horn of powder, and thus armed, I traveled for
discovery up to the top of that hill. Where after
I had, with great labor and difficulty, got to the top,
I saw my fate to my great affliction, that is,
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that I was in an island environed every way with
the sea, no land, no land to be seen, except
some rocks, which lay a great way off, and two
small islands less than this, which lay about three leagues
to the west. I found also that the island I
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was in was barren, 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 not their kinds either. When I killed them, could
I tell what was fit for food and what not.
(14:12):
At my coming back, I shot at a great bird,
which I saw sitting upon a tree on the side
of a great wood. I believe it was the first
gun that had ever been fired there since the creation
of the world. I had no sooner fired than from
all parts of the wood there arose an innumerable number
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of fowls of many sorts, making a confused screaming and crying,
and every one of them according to his usual note,
But not one of them of any kind that I knew.
As for the creature I killed, I took it to
be a kind of hawk, its color and beak resembling it.
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But it had no talons or claws more than common.
Its flesh was carrying and fit for nothing. Contented with
this discovery, I came back to my raft and fell
to work to bring my cargo on shore, which took
me up the rest of that day. What to do
with myself at night I knew not, nor indeed where
(15:16):
to rest, for I was afraid to lie down on
the ground, not knowing but some wild beast might devour me,
though as I afterwards found, there was really no need
for those fears. However, as well as I could, I
barricaded myself round with the chests and boards that I
had brought on shore, and made a kind of hut
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for that night's lodging. As for food, I yet saw
not which way to supply myself, except that I had
seen two or three creatures like hares run out of
the wood where I shot the fowl. I now began
to consider that I might yet get a great many
things out of the ship which would be useful to me,
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and particularly some of the rigging and sails and such
other things as might come to land. And I resolved
to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible,
And as I knew that the first storm that blue
must necessarily break her all in pieces. I resolved to
set all other things apart till I had got everything
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out of the ship that I could get. Then I
called a council, that is to say, in my thoughts,
whether I should take back the raft. But this appeared impracticable,
so I resolved to go as before when the tide
was down. And I did so only that I stripped
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before I went from my hut, having nothing on but
my checkered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, and a
pair of pumps on my feet. I got on board
the ship as before and prepared a second raft. And
having had experience of the first, I neither made this
so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard. But yet I
(17:05):
brought away several things very useful to me. As first,
in the carpenter stores, I found two or three bags
full of nails and spikes, a great screw jack, a
dozen or two of hatchets, and above all that most
useful thing called a grindstone. All these I secured, together
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with several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or
three iron crows and two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets,
another following piece with some small quantity of powder, more
a large bagful of small shot, and a great roll
of sheet lead. But this last was so heavy I
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could not hoist it up to get it over the
ship's side. Besides these things, I took all the men's
clothes that I could find, and a spar for a topsail,
a hammock, and some bedding, And with this I loaded
my second raft and brought them all safe on shore,
to my very great comfort. I was under some apprehension
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during my absence from the land that at least my
provisions might be devoured on shore. But when 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,
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and looked full in my face, as if she had
a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my
gun at her, but as she did not understand it,
she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer
to stir away, upon which I tossed her a bit
of biscuit, though by the way, I was not very
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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, and looked
as if pleased for more. But I thanked her and
could spare no more, so she marched off, Having got
my second cargo on shore. Though I was fain to
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open the barrels of powder and bring them by parcels,
for they were too heavy, being large casts, I went
to work to make me a little tent with the
sale and some poles which I cut for that purpose,
and into this tent I brought everything that I knew
would spoil either with rain or sun, and I piled
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all the empty chests in casts up in a circle
around the tent to fortify it from any sudden attempt,
either from man or beast. When I had done this,
I blocked up the door of the tent with some
boards within, and an empt chest set up on end without,
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and spreading 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 for the
first time and slept very quietly all night, for I
was very weary and heavy, for the night before I
had slept little, and had labored very hard all day
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to fetch all those things from the ship and to
get them on shore. I had the biggest magazine of
all kinds now that ever was laid up, I believe
for one man. But I was not satisfied still. For
a while the ship sat upright in that posture. I
thought I ought to get everything out of her that
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I could. So every day at low water I went
on board and brought away something or other, But particularly
the third time I went, 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
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piece of spare canvas, which was to mend the sails
upon occasion, and the barrel of wet gunpowder. 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 as I at a time as I could,
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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, and thought I
had nothing more to expect from the ship that was
worth my meddling with. I say, after all this, I
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found a great hogshead of bread, three large runlets of
rum or spirits, a box of sugar, and a barrel
of fine flour. This was surprising to me, because I
had given over expecting any more provisions except what was
spoiled by the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of
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the bread and wrapped it up parcel by parcel, and
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, and now having
plundered the ship of what was portable and fit to
hand out, I began with the cables, cutting the great
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cable into pieces such as I could move. I got
two cables and a howser on shore with all the
ironwork I could get, And having cut down the spirit
sail yard and the mizzen yard and everything I could
get to make a large raft, I loaded it with
these heavy goods and came away. But my good luck
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began now to leave me, for this raft was so
unwieldy and so overladen that after I had entered the
little 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 and threw me and all
my cargo into the water. As for myself it was
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no great harm, for I was near the shore. But
as to my cargo, it was a greater part of
it lost, especially the iron, 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
cable ashore and some of the iron, though with infinite labor,
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for I was fain to dip for it into the water,
a work which fatigued me very much. After this, I
went every day on board and brought away what I
could get. I had now been thirteen days on shore,
and had been eleven times on board ship, in which
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time I had brought away all that one pair of
hands could well be supposed capable to bring, though I
believe verily, had the calm weather held, I should have
brought away the whole ship piece by piece. But preparing
the twelfth time to go on board, I found the
wind began to rise. However, at low water I went
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on board, and though I thought I had rummaged the
cabin so effectually that nothing more could be found, yet
I discovered a locker with drawers in it, in one
of which I found two or three razors and one
pair of large scissors, with some tin, or a dozen
of good knives and forks. In another I found about
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thirty six pounds value of money, some European coins, some
brazil some pieces of eight, some gold, and some silver.
I smiled to myself at the sight of this money. Oh, drug,
said I allowed, what art thou good? For? Thou art
not worth to me? No, not the taking off the
(25:07):
ground one of those knives is worth all this heap.
I have no manner of use for thee e'en remain
where thou art, and go to the bottom as a
creature whose life is not worth saving. However, upon second thoughts,
I took it away, and wrapping all this in a
piece of canvas, I began to think of making another raft.
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But while I was preparing this, I found the sky overcast,
and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter
of an hour it blew a fresh gale from the shore.
It presently occurred to me that it was in vain
to pretend to make a raft with the wind offshore,
and that it was my business to be gone before
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the tide of flood began, otherwise I might not be
able to reach the shore at all. Accordingly, I left
myself down into the water and swam across the channel
which lay between the ship and the sands, and even
that with difficulty, enough, partly with the weight of the
things I had about me, and partly the roughness of
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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, where I lay,
with all my wealth about me, very secure. It blew
very hard all night, and in the morning, when I
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looked out, behold no more ship was to be seen.
I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with the
satisfactory reflection that I had lost no time, nor abated
any diligence to get everything out of her that could
be useful to me, and that indeed there was little
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left in her that I was able to bring away
if I had had more time. I now gave over
any more thoughts of the ship 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 to me. My thoughts were
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now wholly employed about securing myself against either savages, if
any should appear, or wild beasts, if anywhere 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 make me a cave in the earth or
a tent upon the earth. And in short I resolved
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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 not fit for my settlement,
because it was upon a low Moorish crown near the sea,
and I believed it would not be whole, and more
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particularly because there was no fresh water near it. So
I resolved to find a more healthy and more convenient
spot of ground. I consulted several things in my situation
which I found would be proper for me. First, health
and fresh water I just now mentioned. Secondly, shelter from
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the heat of the sun. Thirdly security from ravenous creatures,
whether man or beast. Fourthly, of view to the sea,
that if God sent any ship in my sight, I
might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which
I was not willing to banish all my expectation. Yet,
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in search of a place proper for this, I found
a little plain on the side of a rising hill
whose front towards this little plain was steep as a
house sign, so that nothing could come down upon me
from the top. On the one side of the rock
there was a hollow place worn a little way in,
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like the entrance or door of a cave, but there
was not really any cave or any way into the
rock at all. On the flat of the green. Just
before this hollow place I resolved to pitch my tent.
This plain was not above one hundred yards broad and
about twice as long, and lay like a green before
my door, and at the end of it descended irregularly
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every way down into the low ground by the seaside.
It was on the north northwest side of the hill,
so that it was sheltered from the heat every day
till it came to a west and by south sun
or thereabouts, which in those countries is near the setting.
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Before I set up my tent, I drew a half
circle before the hollow place, which took in about ten
yards in its semi diameter from the rock, and twenty
yards in its diameter from its beginning and ending. In
this half circle, I pitched two rows of strong stakes,
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driving them into the ground till they stood very firm
like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground
above five feet and a half and sharpened at the top.
The two rows did not stand above six inches from
one another. Then I took the pieces of cable which
(30:38):
I had cut in the ship, and laid them in rows,
one upon another within the circle between these two rows
of stakes up to the top, placing other steaks in
the inside, leaning against them about two feet and a
half high, like a spur to a post. And this
fence was so strong that neither man nor beast could
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get into it or over it. This cost me a
great deal of time and labor, especially to cut the
piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and
drive them 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,
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when I was in I lifted over with me. After me,
and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as
I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure
in the night, which otherwise I could not have done.
Though as it appeared afterwards that there was no need for
all of this caution from the enemies that I apprehended
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danger from. Into this fence or fortress. With infinite labor,
I carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition and
stores of which you had the account above. And I
made a large tent which to preserve me from the
reins that in one part of the year very violent.
There I made double, one smaller tent within and one
(32:10):
larger tent above it, and covered the uppermost with a
large tarpaulin which I had saved among the sails. And
now I lay no more for a while in the
bed 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
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all my provisions and everything that would spoil by the wet,
And having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up
the entrance which till now I had left open, and
so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my
way into the rock, and, bringing all the earth and
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stones that I dug down out through my tent, made
them up within my fence in the nature of a terrace,
so that it raised the ground within about a foot
and a half. And thus I made me a cave
just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar
to my house. It cost me much labor and many
(33:18):
days before all these things were brought to perfection, And
therefore I must go back to some other things which
took up some of my thoughts at the same time.
It happened, after I had laid my scheme for the
setting up of my tent and making the cave, that
a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud,
(33:38):
A sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that a
great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it.
I was not so much surprised with the lightning as
I was with the thought which darted into my mind
as swift as the lightning itself. Oh, my powder, my
(33:59):
very heart sank within me when I thought that at
one blast, all my powder might be destroyed, on which
not my defense only, but the providing my food, as
I thought entirely dependent. I was nothing near so anxious
about my own danger, though had the powder took fire,
I should never have known who had hurt me. Such
(34:23):
impression did this make upon me that after the storm
was over, I laid aside all my works, my building
and for fortifying, and applied myself to making bags and
boxes to separate the powder, and to keep it a
little and a little in a parcel, and to hope
that whatever might come, it might not all take fire
at once, and to keep it so apart that it
(34:46):
should not be possible to make one part fire another.
I finished this work in about a fortnight, and I
think my powder, which was in all about two hundred
and forty pounds weight, was divided, and not less than
a hundred parcels as to the barrel that had been wet.
I did not apprehend any danger from that, so I
(35:07):
placed it in my new cave, which in my fancy
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, marking very carefully where I
laid it in the interval of time. While this was doing,
I went out once at least every day with my
(35:29):
gun as well, to divert myself as to see if
I could kill anything fit for food, and as near
as I could, to acquaint myself with what the island produced.
The first time I went out, I presently discovered that
there were goats in the island, which was a great
satisfaction to me. But then it was attended with this
(35:52):
misfortune to me, that is that they were so shy,
so subtle, and so swift a foot, that it was
the most difficult thing in the world world to come
at them. But I was not discouraged at this, not doubting,
but I might now and then shoot one, as it
soon happened, For after I had found their haunts a little,
(36:12):
I laid weight in this manner for them. I observed
that they saw me in the valleys. Though they were
upon the rocks, they would run away as in a
terrible fright. But if they were feeding in the valleys
and I was upon the rocks, they took no notice
of me. From whence I concluded that by the position
(36:33):
of their optics, their sight was so directed downward, that
they did not readily see objects that were above them.
So afterwards I took this method. I always climbed the
rocks first to get above them, and then had frequently
a fair mark. The first shot I made among these
(36:53):
creatures I killed a she goat which had a little
kid by her, which she gave suck to me heartily.
For when the old one fell, the kid stood stocked
still by her till I came and took her up.
And not only so, but when I carried the old
one with me upon my shoulders, the kid followed me
(37:15):
quite to my enclosure, upon which I laid down the dam,
and took the kid in my arms and carried it
over my pail in hopes to have bread it up tame,
but it would not eat, and so I was forced
to kill it and eat it myself. These two supplied
me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly
(37:36):
and saved my provisions my bread, especially as much as
I possibly could. Having now fixed my habitation, I found
it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a
fire in and fuel to burn. And what I did
for that, and also how I enlarged my cave, and
(37:56):
what conveniences I made. I shall give a full account
in its place. But I must 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
(38:18):
was not cast away upon that island without being driven,
as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of
the course of our intended voyage, in a great way,
that is, some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary
course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason
to consider this as a determination of Heaven, that in
(38:39):
this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should
end my life. The tears would run plntively down my
face when I made these reflections, and sometimes I would
expostulate with myself why Providence should completely ruin his creatures
and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help, abandoned,
(39:05):
so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to
be thankful for such a life. But something always returned
swift upon me to check these thoughts and to reprove me.
And particularly one day, walking with my gun in my
hand by the seaside, I was very pensive upon the
(39:26):
subject of my present condition, when reason, as it were,
expostulated with me the other way. This, well, you are
in a desolate condition, it is true, But pray, remember
where are the rest of you? Did you not come
eleven of you in the boat? Where are the ten?
(39:50):
Why were they not saved and you lost? Why were
you singled out? Is it better to be here or there?
And then I pointed to the sea. All evils are
to be considered with the good that is in them,
(40:10):
and with what worse attends them. It occurred to me
again how well I was furnished for my subsistence, And
what would have been my case if it had not happened,
which was one hundred thousand to one, that the ship
floated from the place where she first struck, and was
(40:31):
driven so near to the shore that I had time
to get all these things out of her? What would
have been my case if I had been forced to
have lived in the condition in which I at first
came on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to
supply and procure them. Particularly, said I aloud, though to myself,
(40:54):
what should I have done without a gun, without ammunition,
without any tools to make any or to work with
without clothes, betting a tent, or any manner of covering,
And that now I had all these things to sufficient quantity,
and was in a fair way to provide myself in
(41:15):
such a manner as to live without my gun when
my ammunition was spent, so that I had a tolerable
view of subsisting without any want as long as I lived.
For I considered from the beginning I would provide for
the accidents that might happen, and for the time that
(41:36):
was to come, even not only after my ammunition should
be spent, but even after my health and strength should decay.
I confess I had not entertained any notion of my
ammunition being destroyed at one blast, I mean, my powder
being blown up by lightning. And this made the thoughts
(41:58):
of it so surprising to me when it lightened and thundered,
as I observed just now, and now being about to
enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent life,
such perhaps as was never heard of in the world. Before,
I shall take it from its beginning and continue it
(42:20):
in its order. It was, by my account the thirtieth
of September, when, in the manner as above said, I
first set foot upon this horrid island when the sun,
being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost over
my head. For I reckoned myself by observation to be
(42:42):
in the latitude of nine degrees twenty two minutes north
of the line. After I had been there about ten
or twelve days, it came to my thoughts that I
should lose my reckoning of time for want of books
and pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days.
(43:02):
But to prevent this, I cut with my knife upon
a large post in capital letters, and making it into
a great cross, I set it up on the shore
where I first landed. I came on shore here on
the thirtieth September sixteen fifty nine. Upon the sides of
(43:24):
this square post I cut every day a notch with
my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again
as the rest, and every first day of the month
as long again as that long one. And thus I
kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly and yearly reckoning of time.
(43:46):
In the next place, we are to observe that among
the many things which I brought out of the ship
in 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 omitted setting down before,
(44:07):
as in particular pens, ink and paper, several parcels in
the captain's mates, gunners and carpenters, 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
(44:28):
or no. Also I found three very good bibles, which
came to me in my cargo from England, and which
I had packed up among my things. Some Portuguese books also,
and among them two or three Popish prayer books, and
several other books, all which I carefully secured. And I
(44:51):
must not forget that we had in the ship a
dog and two cats, of whose imminent history I may
have occasion to say something 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 swam
on shore to me the day after I went on
shore with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant
(45:13):
to me many years. I wanted nothing that he could
fetch me, nor any company that he could make up
to me. I only wanted to have him talk to me,
but that he would not do. As I observed before,
I found pens, ink and paper, and I husbanded them
(45:34):
to the utmost. And I shall show that while my
ink lasted, 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 could devise. And
this put me in mind that I wanted many things,
notwithstanding all that I had amassed together, and of these
(45:59):
ink was one, as also a spade, pickaxe, and shovel
to dig or remove the earth, needles, pins and thread
as for linen. I soon learned to want that without
much difficulty. This want of tools made every work I
did go so heavily, and it was near a whole
(46:21):
year before I had entirely finished my little pail or
surrounded my habitation. The piles or steaks, which were as
heavy as I could well lift, were a long time
in cutting and preparing in the woods, and more by
far in bringing home, so that I spent sometimes two
days in cutting and bringing home one of these posts,
(46:43):
and a third day in driving it into the ground,
for which purpose I got a heavy piece of wood
at first, but at last bethought myself of one of
the iron crows, which, however, though I found it, made
driving these posts or piles very laborious and tedious work.
But what need I have been concerned at the tediousness
(47:08):
of anything I had to do, seeing I had time
enough to do it in Nor had I any other
employment if that had been over at least that I
could foresee, except arranging the island to seek for food,
which I did more or less every day. I now
(47:29):
began to seriously consider my condition and the circumstances I
was reduced to, and I drew up the state of
my affairs in writing, not so much to lead them
to any that were to come after me, For I
was likely to have but few errors as to deliver
my thoughts from daily pouring over them and afflicting my mind.
(47:53):
And as my reason began now to master my despondency,
I began to comfort myself as well as I could,
and to set the good against evil, that I might
have something to distinguish my case from worse. And I
stated very impartially like debtor and creditor, the comforts I
enjoyed against the miseries I suffered thus. Evil, I am
(48:21):
cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope
of recovery. Good, But I am alive and not drowned
as all my ship's company were. Evil. I am singled
out and separated, as it were, from all the world
(48:41):
to be miserable. Good. But I am singled out too
from all the ship's crew to be spared from death.
And he that miraculously saved me from death can deliver
me from this condition. Evil. I am divided from mankind,
(49:04):
a solitaire one banished from human society. Good, But I
am not starved and perishing on a barren place affording
no sustenance. Evil. I have no clothes to cover me. Good,
but I am in a hot climate where if I
had clothes, I could hardly wear them. Evil. I am
(49:29):
without any defense or means to resist any violence of
man or beast. Good, But I am cast on an
island where I see no wild beasts to hurt me
as I saw on the coast of Africa. And what
if I had been shipwrecked there. Evil, I have no
(49:49):
soul to speak to or relieve me. Good, But God
wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to ashore that
I have got out as many necessary things as will
either supply my wants or enable me to supply myself,
(50:10):
even as long as I live upon the whole. Here
was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any condition
in the world so miserable, but there was something negative
or something positive to be thankful for in it. And
let this stand as a direction from the experience of
(50:30):
the most miserable of all conditions in this world, that
we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves with,
and to set in the description of good and evil
on the credit side of the account. Having now brought
my mind a little to relish my condition, and given
(50:53):
over looking out to see to see if I should
spy a ship, I say, giving over these things, I
begun to apply myself to arrange my way of living,
and to make things as easy to me as I could.
I have already described my habitation, which was a tent
under the side of a rock, surrounded with a strong
(51:14):
pail of posts and cables. But I might now rather
call it a wall, for I raised a kind of
wall up against it, of turfs, about two feet thick
on the outside. And after some time I think it
was a year and a half. I raised rafters from it,
leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it with
(51:37):
boughs of trees and such things as I could get
to keep out the rain, which I found at some
times of the year very violent. I have already observed
how I brought all my goods into this pail and
into the cave which I had made behind me. But
I must observe too that at first this was confused
(52:00):
heap of goods, which, as they lay in no order,
so they took up all my 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 loose sandy rock which yielded easily to the
labor I bestowed on it. And so when I found
(52:21):
I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey. I
worked sideways to the right hand into the rock, and
then turning again to the right, worked quite out and
made me a door to come out on the outside
of my pail or fortification. This gave me not only
egress and regress, as it was a way back to
(52:43):
my tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room
to store my goods. And now I began to apply
myself to such necessary things as I found I most wanted,
particularly a chair and a table. Without these, I was
not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in
(53:03):
the world. I could not write, or eat, or do
several things with so much pleasure without a table. So
I went to work. And here I must needs observe
that as reason is the substance and origin of the mathematics,
so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by
(53:25):
making the most rational judgments of things, every man may
be in time master of every mechanic art. I had
never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time,
by labor, application and contrivance, I found at last that
I wanted nothing, but I could have made it, especially
(53:46):
if I had tools. However, I made abundance of things
even without tools, and some with no tools more than
an ads and a hatchet, which perhaps were never made
that way before, and that with infinite labor. For example,
if I wanted a board, I had no other way
(54:08):
but to cut down a tree, set it on an
edge before me, and hew it flat on either side
with my axe, till I brought it to be thin
as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my ads.
It is true by this method I could make but
one board out of a whole tree. But this I
(54:31):
had no remedy for but patience, any more than I
had for the prodigious deal of time and labor which
it took me up to make a plank or board.
But my time or labor was little worth, and so
it was as well employed one way as another. However,
(54:53):
I made me a table and a chair, as I
observed above and in the first place, And this I
did out of the short pieces of boards that I
brought on my raft from the ship. But when I
had wrought out some boards as above, I made large
shelves of the breadth of a foot and a half
(55:14):
one over another, all along one side of my cave,
to lay all my tools, nails, and iron work on,
and in a word, to separate everything at large into
their places, that I might come easily at them. I
knocked pieces into the wall to hang my guns and
all things that would hang up, so that had my
(55:35):
cave been to be seen, it looked like a great
general magazine of all necessary things, And had everything so
ready at my hand that it was a great pleasure
to me to see all my goods in such order,
and especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
(55:56):
And now it was that I began to keep a
journal of every day's employment. Indeed, at first I was
in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labor,
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 thirtieth after I had got
(56:18):
to shore and escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to
God for my deliverance, having first vomited with the great
quantity of salt water which had gotten into my stomach,
and recovering myself a little, I ran about the shore,
wringing my hands and beating my head and face, exclaiming
at my misery and crying out. I was undone, undone
(56:41):
till tired and faint, I was forced to lie down
on the ground to repose, but durst not sleep for
fear of being devoured. Some days after this, and after
I had been on board the ship and got all
I could out of her, yet I could not forbear
getting up to the top of a little mountain, and
(57:01):
looking out to sea in hopes of seeing a ship.
Then fancy at a vast distance, I spy to sail,
please myself with the hopes of it. And then, after
looking steadily till I was almost blind, lose it quite
and sit down and weep like a child, And thus
(57:23):
increased my misery by my folly. But having gotten over
these things in some measure, and having settled my household,
staff and habitation, made me a table and a chair,
and all as handsome about me as I could, I
began to keep my journal, of which I shall here
(57:45):
give you the copy, though in it will be told
all the particulars all over again, as long as it lasted,
for having no more ink, I was forced to leave
it off end of Chapter four
Chapter four. First weeks on the island. When I waked,
it was broad day, the weather clear, and the storm abated,
so that the sea did not rage and swell as before.
But that which surprised me most was that the ship
was lifted off in the night from the sand where
(00:21):
she lay by the swelling of the tide, and was
driven up almost as far as the rock which I
had first mentioned where I had been so bruised by
the wave dashing me against it. This being within about
a mile from the shore where I was, and the
ship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself on
(00:43):
board that at least I might save some necessary things
for my use. When I came down from my apartment
in the tree, I looked about me again, and the
first thing I found was the boat, which lay as
the wind and the sea had tossed upon the land,
about two miles on my right hand. I walked as
(01:05):
far as I could upon the shore to have got
to her, but found a neck or inlet of water
between me and the boat, which was about half a
mile broad. So I came back for the present, being
more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hoped
to find something for my present subsistence. A little afternoon
(01:28):
I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbed
so far out that I could come within a quarter
of a mile of the ship. And here I found
a fresh renewing of my grief, for I saw evidently
that if we had kept on board, we had all
been safe, that is to say, we had all got
(01:49):
safe on shore, and I had not been so miserable
as to be left entirely destitute of all comfort and company,
as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again.
But as there was little relief in that, I resolved,
if possible to get to the ship. So I pulled
off my clothes, for the weather was so hot to
(02:13):
an extremity, and took the water. But when I came
to the ship, my difficulty was still greater to know
how to get on board, for as she lay aground
and high out of the water, there was nothing within
my reach to lay hold of. I swam around her twice,
and the second time I spied a small piece of rope,
(02:34):
which I wondered I did not see at first, hung
down by 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 the forecastle
of the ship. Here I found that the ship was
bulged and had a great deal of water in her hold,
(02:57):
but that she lay so on the side of a
of hard sand, or rather earth, that her stern lay
lifted up upon the bank, and her head low almost
to the water. By this means all her quarter was free,
and all that was in that part was dry. For
you may be sure, my first work was to search
(03:20):
and to see what was spoiled and what was free.
And first I found that all the ship's provisions 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 to lose.
(03:44):
I also found some rum in the great cabin, of
which I took a large dram and which I had
indeed need enough to spirit me for what was before me.
Now I wanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself
with many things, which I foresaw would be very necessary
to me. It was in vain to sit still and
(04:06):
wish for what was not to be had, And this
extremity roused my application. We had several spare yards and
two or three large spars of wood, and a spare
top mast or two in the ship. I resolved to
work to fall with these, and I flung as many
of them overboard as I could manage for their weight,
(04:28):
tying everyone with a rope that they may not drive away.
When this was done, I went down the ship's side,
and pulling them to me, I tied four of them
together at both ends as well as I could, in
the form of a raft, and laying two or three
short pieces of plank upon them crossways. I found I
(04:48):
could walk upon it very well, but that it was
not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being
too light. So I went to work, and with the
carpenter saw, I cut a spare top mast into three
lengths and added them to my raft. With a great
deal of labor and pains, but the hope of furnishing
(05:09):
myself with necessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I
should have been able to have done. Upon another occasion.
My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight.
My next care was what to loaded with and how
to preserve what I had laid upon it from the
surf of the sea. But I was not long considering this.
(05:30):
I first laid all the planks or boards upon it
that I could get. Having considered well what I most wanted,
I got three of the seamen's chests which had been
broken open and emptied, and lowered them down upon my raft.
The first of these I filled with provisions, that is,
(05:51):
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 to see with us. But the fowls
were killed. There had been some barley and wheat together,
(06:12):
but to my great disappointment, I found afterwards that the
rats had eaten or spoiled it all. As for liquors,
I found several cases of bottles belonging to our skipper,
in which were some cordial waters, and in all about
five or six gallons of wreck. These I stowed by themselves,
(06:33):
there being no need to put them into the chest,
nor any room for them. While I was doing this,
I found the tide begin 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
(06:56):
only linen and open kneed, I swam on board in
them and my stockings. However, this set me rummaging for clothes,
of which I found enough, but took no more than
I wanted for present use, for I had other things
which my eye was more upon as first tools to
work with when on shore. And it was after long
(07:20):
searching that I found out the carpenter's chest, which was
indeed a very useful prize to me, and much more
valuable than a ship load 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
(07:40):
care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two
very good following pieces in the 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 powder in the ship,
but I knew not where our gunner had stowed them.
(08:03):
But with much much search, I found them, two of
them dry and good, the third had taken water. Those
two I got to my raft with my arms, and
now I thought myself pretty well freighted, and began to
think how I should get on shore with them. Having
neither sailor nor rudder, and the least capful of wind
(08:25):
would have overset all my navigation. I had three encouragements. First,
a smooth, calm sea. Secondly the tide rising and setting
in to the shore. Thirdly, what little wind there was
blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two
(08:46):
or three broken oars belonging to the boat, and besides
the tools which were in the chest, I found two saws,
and axe and a hammer. With this cargo I put
to sea for a mile or there thereabouts. My raft
went very well, only that I found it drive a
little distant from the place where I had landed before,
(09:07):
by which I perceived that there was some in draft
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 opening of the land and I found a
(09:28):
strong current of the tide set into it. So I
guided my raft as well as I could to keep
in the middle of the stream. But here I had
liked to have suffered a second 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
(09:50):
end of it upon a shoal, and not being aground
at the other end, it wanted but a little that
all my cargo had slipped off towards the en, and
that was afloat, and to fall into the water. I
did my utmost by setting my back against the chests
to keep them in their places. But I could not
(10:12):
thrust off the raft with all my strength, neither durst
I stir from the posture I was in, but holding
up the chests with all my might. I stood in
that manner near half an hour, in which time the
rising of the water brought me a little more upon
a level, And a little after the water, still rising,
my raft floated again, and I thrust her off with
(10:35):
the oar I had into the channel, and then driving
up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth
of a little river, with land on both sides, and
a strong current of tide running up. I looked on
both sides for a proper place to get to shore,
for I was not willing to be driven too high
up the river, hoping in time to see some ships
(10:56):
at sea, and therefore resolved to place my sel as
near the coast as I could. At length I spied
a little cove on the right shore of the creek,
to which, with great pain and difficulty, I guided my
raft and at last got so near that reaching ground
(11:16):
with my oar I could thrust her directly in. But
here I had liked to have dipped all my cargo
into the sea again, for that shore buying pretty steep,
that is to say, sloping, there was no place to land,
and where one end of my float, if it ran
on shore, would lie so high and the others sink lower.
(11:38):
As before that it would endanger my cargo. Once again.
All that I could do was to wait till the
tide was at the highest, keeping the raft with my
oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it
fast to the shore near a flat piece of ground
which I expected the water would flow over, And so
(12:00):
it did. As soon as I found water enough for
my raft drew about a foot of water. I thrust
her upon that flat piece of ground, and there fastened
or moored her by sticking my two broken oars into
the ground, one on one side near the end, and
one on the other side near the other end. And
(12:21):
thus I lay till the water ebbed away, and left
my raft and all my cargo safe on shore. My
next work was to view the country and seek a
proper place for my habitation, and where to stow my goods,
to secure them from whatever might happen. Where I was,
(12:41):
I yet knew not whether on the continent or on
an island, whether inhabited or not inhabited, whether in danger
of wild beasts or not. There was a hill not
a mile above me, which rose up very steep and high,
and which to overtop some other hills which lay as
(13:03):
in a ridge from it northward. I took out one
of the fowling pieces, and one of the pistols, and
a horn of powder, and thus armed, I traveled for
discovery up to the top of that hill. Where after
I had, with great labor and difficulty, got to the top,
I saw my fate to my great affliction, that is,
(13:28):
that I was in an island environed every way with
the sea, no land, no land to be seen, except
some rocks, which lay a great way off, and two
small islands less than this, which lay about three leagues
to the west. I found also that the island I
(13:51):
was in was barren, 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 not their kinds either. When I killed them, could
I tell what was fit for food and what not.
(14:12):
At my coming back, I shot at a great bird,
which I saw sitting upon a tree on the side
of a great wood. I believe it was the first
gun that had ever been fired there since the creation
of the world. I had no sooner fired than from
all parts of the wood there arose an innumerable number
(14:32):
of fowls of many sorts, making a confused screaming and crying,
and every one of them according to his usual note,
But not one of them of any kind that I knew.
As for the creature I killed, I took it to
be a kind of hawk, its color and beak resembling it.
(14:53):
But it had no talons or claws more than common.
Its flesh was carrying and fit for nothing. Contented with
this discovery, I came back to my raft and fell
to work to bring my cargo on shore, which took
me up the rest of that day. What to do
with myself at night I knew not, nor indeed where
(15:16):
to rest, for I was afraid to lie down on
the ground, not knowing but some wild beast might devour me,
though as I afterwards found, there was really no need
for those fears. However, as well as I could, I
barricaded myself round with the chests and boards that I
had brought on shore, and made a kind of hut
(15:38):
for that night's lodging. As for food, I yet saw
not which way to supply myself, except that I had
seen two or three creatures like hares run out of
the wood where I shot the fowl. I now began
to consider that I might yet get a great many
things out of the ship which would be useful to me,
(16:00):
and particularly some of the rigging and sails and such
other things as might come to land. And I resolved
to make another voyage on board the vessel, if possible,
And as I knew that the first storm that blue
must necessarily break her all in pieces. I resolved to
set all other things apart till I had got everything
(16:23):
out of the ship that I could get. Then I
called a council, that is to say, in my thoughts,
whether I should take back the raft. But this appeared impracticable,
so I resolved to go as before when the tide
was down. And I did so only that I stripped
(16:43):
before I went from my hut, having nothing on but
my checkered shirt, a pair of linen drawers, and a
pair of pumps on my feet. I got on board
the ship as before and prepared a second raft. And
having had experience of the first, I neither made this
so unwieldy, nor loaded it so hard. But yet I
(17:05):
brought away several things very useful to me. As first,
in the carpenter stores, I found two or three bags
full of nails and spikes, a great screw jack, a
dozen or two of hatchets, and above all that most
useful thing called a grindstone. All these I secured, together
(17:26):
with several things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or
three iron crows and two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets,
another following piece with some small quantity of powder, more
a large bagful of small shot, and a great roll
of sheet lead. But this last was so heavy I
(17:49):
could not hoist it up to get it over the
ship's side. Besides these things, I took all the men's
clothes that I could find, and a spar for a topsail,
a hammock, and some bedding, And with this I loaded
my second raft and brought them all safe on shore,
to my very great comfort. I was under some apprehension
(18:14):
during my absence from the land that at least my
provisions might be devoured on shore. But when 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,
(18:39):
and looked full in my face, as if she had
a mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my
gun at her, but as she did not understand it,
she was perfectly unconcerned at it, nor did she offer
to stir away, upon which I tossed her a bit
of biscuit, though by the way, I was not very
(18:59):
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, and looked
as if pleased for more. But I thanked her and
could spare no more, so she marched off, Having got
my second cargo on shore. Though I was fain to
(19:22):
open the barrels of powder and bring them by parcels,
for they were too heavy, being large casts, I went
to work to make me a little tent with the
sale and some poles which I cut for that purpose,
and into this tent I brought everything that I knew
would spoil either with rain or sun, and I piled
(19:43):
all the empty chests in casts up in a circle
around the tent to fortify it from any sudden attempt,
either from man or beast. When I had done this,
I blocked up the door of the tent with some
boards within, and an empt chest set up on end without,
(20:03):
and spreading 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 for the
first time and slept very quietly all night, for I
was very weary and heavy, for the night before I
had slept little, and had labored very hard all day
(20:25):
to fetch all those things from the ship and to
get them on shore. I had the biggest magazine of
all kinds now that ever was laid up, I believe
for one man. But I was not satisfied still. For
a while the ship sat upright in that posture. I
thought I ought to get everything out of her that
(20:46):
I could. So every day at low water I went
on board and brought away something or other, But particularly
the third time I went, 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
(21:07):
piece of spare canvas, which was to mend the sails
upon occasion, and the barrel of wet gunpowder. 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 as I at a time as I could,
(21:27):
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, and thought I
had nothing more to expect from the ship that was
worth my meddling with. I say, after all this, I
(21:49):
found a great hogshead of bread, three large runlets of
rum or spirits, a box of sugar, and a barrel
of fine flour. This was surprising to me, because I
had given over expecting any more provisions except what was
spoiled by the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of
(22:10):
the bread and wrapped it up parcel by parcel, and
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, and now having
plundered the ship of what was portable and fit to
hand out, I began with the cables, cutting the great
(22:33):
cable into pieces such as I could move. I got
two cables and a howser on shore with all the
ironwork I could get, And having cut down the spirit
sail yard and the mizzen yard and everything I could
get to make a large raft, I loaded it with
these heavy goods and came away. But my good luck
(22:56):
began now to leave me, for this raft was so
unwieldy and so overladen that after I had entered the
little 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 and threw me and all
my cargo into the water. As for myself it was
(23:17):
no great harm, for I was near the shore. But
as to my cargo, it was a greater part of
it lost, especially the iron, 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
cable ashore and some of the iron, though with infinite labor,
(23:40):
for I was fain to dip for it into the water,
a work which fatigued me very much. After this, I
went every day on board and brought away what I
could get. I had now been thirteen days on shore,
and had been eleven times on board ship, in which
(24:01):
time I had brought away all that one pair of
hands could well be supposed capable to bring, though I
believe verily, had the calm weather held, I should have
brought away the whole ship piece by piece. But preparing
the twelfth time to go on board, I found the
wind began to rise. However, at low water I went
(24:24):
on board, and though I thought I had rummaged the
cabin so effectually that nothing more could be found, yet
I discovered a locker with drawers in it, in one
of which I found two or three razors and one
pair of large scissors, with some tin, or a dozen
of good knives and forks. In another I found about
(24:45):
thirty six pounds value of money, some European coins, some
brazil some pieces of eight, some gold, and some silver.
I smiled to myself at the sight of this money. Oh, drug,
said I allowed, what art thou good? For? Thou art
not worth to me? No, not the taking off the
(25:07):
ground one of those knives is worth all this heap.
I have no manner of use for thee e'en remain
where thou art, and go to the bottom as a
creature whose life is not worth saving. However, upon second thoughts,
I took it away, and wrapping all this in a
piece of canvas, I began to think of making another raft.
(25:30):
But while I was preparing this, I found the sky overcast,
and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter
of an hour it blew a fresh gale from the shore.
It presently occurred to me that it was in vain
to pretend to make a raft with the wind offshore,
and that it was my business to be gone before
(25:52):
the tide of flood began, otherwise I might not be
able to reach the shore at all. Accordingly, I left
myself down into the water and swam across the channel
which lay between the ship and the sands, and even
that with difficulty, enough, partly with the weight of the
things I had about me, and partly the roughness of
(26:14):
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, where I lay,
with all my wealth about me, very secure. It blew
very hard all night, and in the morning, when I
(26:35):
looked out, behold no more ship was to be seen.
I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with the
satisfactory reflection that I had lost no time, nor abated
any diligence to get everything out of her that could
be useful to me, and that indeed there was little
(26:56):
left in her that I was able to bring away
if I had had more time. I now gave over
any more thoughts of the ship 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 to me. My thoughts were
(27:20):
now wholly employed about securing myself against either savages, if
any should appear, or wild beasts, if anywhere 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 make me a cave in the earth or
a tent upon the earth. And in short I resolved
(27:41):
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 not fit for my settlement,
because it was upon a low Moorish crown near the sea,
and I believed it would not be whole, and more
(28:01):
particularly because there was no fresh water near it. So
I resolved to find a more healthy and more convenient
spot of ground. I consulted several things in my situation
which I found would be proper for me. First, health
and fresh water I just now mentioned. Secondly, shelter from
(28:23):
the heat of the sun. Thirdly security from ravenous creatures,
whether man or beast. Fourthly, of view to the sea,
that if God sent any ship in my sight, I
might not lose any advantage for my deliverance, of which
I was not willing to banish all my expectation. Yet,
(28:47):
in search of a place proper for this, I found
a little plain on the side of a rising hill
whose front towards this little plain was steep as a
house sign, so that nothing could come down upon me
from the top. On the one side of the rock
there was a hollow place worn a little way in,
(29:08):
like the entrance or door of a cave, but there
was not really any cave or any way into the
rock at all. On the flat of the green. Just
before this hollow place I resolved to pitch my tent.
This plain was not above one hundred yards broad and
about twice as long, and lay like a green before
my door, and at the end of it descended irregularly
(29:33):
every way down into the low ground by the seaside.
It was on the north northwest side of the hill,
so that it was sheltered from the heat every day
till it came to a west and by south sun
or thereabouts, which in those countries is near the setting.
(29:56):
Before I set up my tent, I drew a half
circle before the hollow place, which took in about ten
yards in its semi diameter from the rock, and twenty
yards in its diameter from its beginning and ending. In
this half circle, I pitched two rows of strong stakes,
(30:17):
driving them into the ground till they stood very firm
like piles, the biggest end being out of the ground
above five feet and a half and sharpened at the top.
The two rows did not stand above six inches from
one another. Then I took the pieces of cable which
(30:38):
I had cut in the ship, and laid them in rows,
one upon another within the circle between these two rows
of stakes up to the top, placing other steaks in
the inside, leaning against them about two feet and a
half high, like a spur to a post. And this
fence was so strong that neither man nor beast could
(31:02):
get into it or over it. This cost me a
great deal of time and labor, especially to cut the
piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and
drive them 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,
(31:24):
when I was in I lifted over with me. After me,
and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as
I thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure
in the night, which otherwise I could not have done.
Though as it appeared afterwards that there was no need for
all of this caution from the enemies that I apprehended
(31:46):
danger from. Into this fence or fortress. With infinite labor,
I carried all my riches, all my provisions, ammunition and
stores of which you had the account above. And I
made a large tent which to preserve me from the
reins that in one part of the year very violent.
There I made double, one smaller tent within and one
(32:10):
larger tent above it, and covered the uppermost with a
large tarpaulin which I had saved among the sails. And
now I lay no more for a while in the
bed 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
(32:34):
all my provisions and everything that would spoil by the wet,
And having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up
the entrance which till now I had left open, and
so passed and repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my
way into the rock, and, bringing all the earth and
(32:56):
stones that I dug down out through my tent, made
them up within my fence in the nature of a terrace,
so that it raised the ground within about a foot
and a half. And thus I made me a cave
just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar
to my house. It cost me much labor and many
(33:18):
days before all these things were brought to perfection, And
therefore I must go back to some other things which
took up some of my thoughts at the same time.
It happened, after I had laid my scheme for the
setting up of my tent and making the cave, that
a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud,
(33:38):
A sudden flash of lightning happened, and after that a
great clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it.
I was not so much surprised with the lightning as
I was with the thought which darted into my mind
as swift as the lightning itself. Oh, my powder, my
(33:59):
very heart sank within me when I thought that at
one blast, all my powder might be destroyed, on which
not my defense only, but the providing my food, as
I thought entirely dependent. I was nothing near so anxious
about my own danger, though had the powder took fire,
I should never have known who had hurt me. Such
(34:23):
impression did this make upon me that after the storm
was over, I laid aside all my works, my building
and for fortifying, and applied myself to making bags and
boxes to separate the powder, and to keep it a
little and a little in a parcel, and to hope
that whatever might come, it might not all take fire
at once, and to keep it so apart that it
(34:46):
should not be possible to make one part fire another.
I finished this work in about a fortnight, and I
think my powder, which was in all about two hundred
and forty pounds weight, was divided, and not less than
a hundred parcels as to the barrel that had been wet.
I did not apprehend any danger from that, so I
(35:07):
placed it in my new cave, which in my fancy
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, marking very carefully where I
laid it in the interval of time. While this was doing,
I went out once at least every day with my
(35:29):
gun as well, to divert myself as to see if
I could kill anything fit for food, and as near
as I could, to acquaint myself with what the island produced.
The first time I went out, I presently discovered that
there were goats in the island, which was a great
satisfaction to me. But then it was attended with this
(35:52):
misfortune to me, that is that they were so shy,
so subtle, and so swift a foot, that it was
the most difficult thing in the world world to come
at them. But I was not discouraged at this, not doubting,
but I might now and then shoot one, as it
soon happened, For after I had found their haunts a little,
(36:12):
I laid weight in this manner for them. I observed
that they saw me in the valleys. Though they were
upon the rocks, they would run away as in a
terrible fright. But if they were feeding in the valleys
and I was upon the rocks, they took no notice
of me. From whence I concluded that by the position
(36:33):
of their optics, their sight was so directed downward, that
they did not readily see objects that were above them.
So afterwards I took this method. I always climbed the
rocks first to get above them, and then had frequently
a fair mark. The first shot I made among these
(36:53):
creatures I killed a she goat which had a little
kid by her, which she gave suck to me heartily.
For when the old one fell, the kid stood stocked
still by her till I came and took her up.
And not only so, but when I carried the old
one with me upon my shoulders, the kid followed me
(37:15):
quite to my enclosure, upon which I laid down the dam,
and took the kid in my arms and carried it
over my pail in hopes to have bread it up tame,
but it would not eat, and so I was forced
to kill it and eat it myself. These two supplied
me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly
(37:36):
and saved my provisions my bread, especially as much as
I possibly could. Having now fixed my habitation, I found
it absolutely necessary to provide a place to make a
fire in and fuel to burn. And what I did
for that, and also how I enlarged my cave, and
(37:56):
what conveniences I made. I shall give a full account
in its place. But I must 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
(38:18):
was not cast away upon that island without being driven,
as is said, by a violent storm, quite out of
the course of our intended voyage, in a great way,
that is, some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary
course of the trade of mankind, I had great reason
to consider this as a determination of Heaven, that in
(38:39):
this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I should
end my life. The tears would run plntively down my
face when I made these reflections, and sometimes I would
expostulate with myself why Providence should completely ruin his creatures
and render them so absolutely miserable, so without help, abandoned,
(39:05):
so entirely depressed, that it could hardly be rational to
be thankful for such a life. But something always returned
swift upon me to check these thoughts and to reprove me.
And particularly one day, walking with my gun in my
hand by the seaside, I was very pensive upon the
(39:26):
subject of my present condition, when reason, as it were,
expostulated with me the other way. This, well, you are
in a desolate condition, it is true, But pray, remember
where are the rest of you? Did you not come
eleven of you in the boat? Where are the ten?
(39:50):
Why were they not saved and you lost? Why were
you singled out? Is it better to be here or there?
And then I pointed to the sea. All evils are
to be considered with the good that is in them,
(40:10):
and with what worse attends them. It occurred to me
again how well I was furnished for my subsistence, And
what would have been my case if it had not happened,
which was one hundred thousand to one, that the ship
floated from the place where she first struck, and was
(40:31):
driven so near to the shore that I had time
to get all these things out of her? What would
have been my case if I had been forced to
have lived in the condition in which I at first
came on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to
supply and procure them. Particularly, said I aloud, though to myself,
(40:54):
what should I have done without a gun, without ammunition,
without any tools to make any or to work with
without clothes, betting a tent, or any manner of covering,
And that now I had all these things to sufficient quantity,
and was in a fair way to provide myself in
(41:15):
such a manner as to live without my gun when
my ammunition was spent, so that I had a tolerable
view of subsisting without any want as long as I lived.
For I considered from the beginning I would provide for
the accidents that might happen, and for the time that
(41:36):
was to come, even not only after my ammunition should
be spent, but even after my health and strength should decay.
I confess I had not entertained any notion of my
ammunition being destroyed at one blast, I mean, my powder
being blown up by lightning. And this made the thoughts
(41:58):
of it so surprising to me when it lightened and thundered,
as I observed just now, and now being about to
enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent life,
such perhaps as was never heard of in the world. Before,
I shall take it from its beginning and continue it
(42:20):
in its order. It was, by my account the thirtieth
of September, when, in the manner as above said, I
first set foot upon this horrid island when the sun,
being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost over
my head. For I reckoned myself by observation to be
(42:42):
in the latitude of nine degrees twenty two minutes north
of the line. After I had been there about ten
or twelve days, it came to my thoughts that I
should lose my reckoning of time for want of books
and pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days.
(43:02):
But to prevent this, I cut with my knife upon
a large post in capital letters, and making it into
a great cross, I set it up on the shore
where I first landed. I came on shore here on
the thirtieth September sixteen fifty nine. Upon the sides of
(43:24):
this square post I cut every day a notch with
my knife, and every seventh notch was as long again
as the rest, and every first day of the month
as long again as that long one. And thus I
kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly and yearly reckoning of time.
(43:46):
In the next place, we are to observe that among
the many things which I brought out of the ship
in 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 omitted setting down before,
(44:07):
as in particular pens, ink and paper, several parcels in
the captain's mates, gunners and carpenters, 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
(44:28):
or no. Also I found three very good bibles, which
came to me in my cargo from England, and which
I had packed up among my things. Some Portuguese books also,
and among them two or three Popish prayer books, and
several other books, all which I carefully secured. And I
(44:51):
must not forget that we had in the ship a
dog and two cats, of whose imminent history I may
have occasion to say something 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 swam
on shore to me the day after I went on
shore with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant
(45:13):
to me many years. I wanted nothing that he could
fetch me, nor any company that he could make up
to me. I only wanted to have him talk to me,
but that he would not do. As I observed before,
I found pens, ink and paper, and I husbanded them
(45:34):
to the utmost. And I shall show that while my
ink lasted, 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 could devise. And
this put me in mind that I wanted many things,
notwithstanding all that I had amassed together, and of these
(45:59):
ink was one, as also a spade, pickaxe, and shovel
to dig or remove the earth, needles, pins and thread
as for linen. I soon learned to want that without
much difficulty. This want of tools made every work I
did go so heavily, and it was near a whole
(46:21):
year before I had entirely finished my little pail or
surrounded my habitation. The piles or steaks, which were as
heavy as I could well lift, were a long time
in cutting and preparing in the woods, and more by
far in bringing home, so that I spent sometimes two
days in cutting and bringing home one of these posts,
(46:43):
and a third day in driving it into the ground,
for which purpose I got a heavy piece of wood
at first, but at last bethought myself of one of
the iron crows, which, however, though I found it, made
driving these posts or piles very laborious and tedious work.
But what need I have been concerned at the tediousness
(47:08):
of anything I had to do, seeing I had time
enough to do it in Nor had I any other
employment if that had been over at least that I
could foresee, except arranging the island to seek for food,
which I did more or less every day. I now
(47:29):
began to seriously consider my condition and the circumstances I
was reduced to, and I drew up the state of
my affairs in writing, not so much to lead them
to any that were to come after me, For I
was likely to have but few errors as to deliver
my thoughts from daily pouring over them and afflicting my mind.
(47:53):
And as my reason began now to master my despondency,
I began to comfort myself as well as I could,
and to set the good against evil, that I might
have something to distinguish my case from worse. And I
stated very impartially like debtor and creditor, the comforts I
enjoyed against the miseries I suffered thus. Evil, I am
(48:21):
cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hope
of recovery. Good, But I am alive and not drowned
as all my ship's company were. Evil. I am singled
out and separated, as it were, from all the world
(48:41):
to be miserable. Good. But I am singled out too
from all the ship's crew to be spared from death.
And he that miraculously saved me from death can deliver
me from this condition. Evil. I am divided from mankind,
(49:04):
a solitaire one banished from human society. Good, But I
am not starved and perishing on a barren place affording
no sustenance. Evil. I have no clothes to cover me. Good,
but I am in a hot climate where if I
had clothes, I could hardly wear them. Evil. I am
(49:29):
without any defense or means to resist any violence of
man or beast. Good, But I am cast on an
island where I see no wild beasts to hurt me
as I saw on the coast of Africa. And what
if I had been shipwrecked there. Evil, I have no
(49:49):
soul to speak to or relieve me. Good, But God
wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to ashore that
I have got out as many necessary things as will
either supply my wants or enable me to supply myself,
(50:10):
even as long as I live upon the whole. Here
was an undoubted testimony that there was scarce any condition
in the world so miserable, but there was something negative
or something positive to be thankful for in it. And
let this stand as a direction from the experience of
(50:30):
the most miserable of all conditions in this world, that
we may always find in it something to comfort ourselves with,
and to set in the description of good and evil
on the credit side of the account. Having now brought
my mind a little to relish my condition, and given
(50:53):
over looking out to see to see if I should
spy a ship, I say, giving over these things, I
begun to apply myself to arrange my way of living,
and to make things as easy to me as I could.
I have already described my habitation, which was a tent
under the side of a rock, surrounded with a strong
(51:14):
pail of posts and cables. But I might now rather
call it a wall, for I raised a kind of
wall up against it, of turfs, about two feet thick
on the outside. And after some time I think it
was a year and a half. I raised rafters from it,
leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it with
(51:37):
boughs of trees and such things as I could get
to keep out the rain, which I found at some
times of the year very violent. I have already observed
how I brought all my goods into this pail and
into the cave which I had made behind me. But
I must observe too that at first this was confused
(52:00):
heap of goods, which, as they lay in no order,
so they took up all my 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 loose sandy rock which yielded easily to the
labor I bestowed on it. And so when I found
(52:21):
I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey. I
worked sideways to the right hand into the rock, and
then turning again to the right, worked quite out and
made me a door to come out on the outside
of my pail or fortification. This gave me not only
egress and regress, as it was a way back to
(52:43):
my tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room
to store my goods. And now I began to apply
myself to such necessary things as I found I most wanted,
particularly a chair and a table. Without these, I was
not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in
(53:03):
the world. I could not write, or eat, or do
several things with so much pleasure without a table. So
I went to work. And here I must needs observe
that as reason is the substance and origin of the mathematics,
so by stating and squaring everything by reason, and by
(53:25):
making the most rational judgments of things, every man may
be in time master of every mechanic art. I had
never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time,
by labor, application and contrivance, I found at last that
I wanted nothing, but I could have made it, especially
(53:46):
if I had tools. However, I made abundance of things
even without tools, and some with no tools more than
an ads and a hatchet, which perhaps were never made
that way before, and that with infinite labor. For example,
if I wanted a board, I had no other way
(54:08):
but to cut down a tree, set it on an
edge before me, and hew it flat on either side
with my axe, till I brought it to be thin
as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my ads.
It is true by this method I could make but
one board out of a whole tree. But this I
(54:31):
had no remedy for but patience, any more than I
had for the prodigious deal of time and labor which
it took me up to make a plank or board.
But my time or labor was little worth, and so
it was as well employed one way as another. However,
(54:53):
I made me a table and a chair, as I
observed above and in the first place, And this I
did out of the short pieces of boards that I
brought on my raft from the ship. But when I
had wrought out some boards as above, I made large
shelves of the breadth of a foot and a half
(55:14):
one over another, all along one side of my cave,
to lay all my tools, nails, and iron work on,
and in a word, to separate everything at large into
their places, that I might come easily at them. I
knocked pieces into the wall to hang my guns and
all things that would hang up, so that had my
(55:35):
cave been to be seen, it looked like a great
general magazine of all necessary things, And had everything so
ready at my hand that it was a great pleasure
to me to see all my goods in such order,
and especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
(55:56):
And now it was that I began to keep a
journal of every day's employment. Indeed, at first I was
in too much hurry, and not only hurry as to labor,
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 thirtieth after I had got
(56:18):
to shore and escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to
God for my deliverance, having first vomited with the great
quantity of salt water which had gotten into my stomach,
and recovering myself a little, I ran about the shore,
wringing my hands and beating my head and face, exclaiming
at my misery and crying out. I was undone, undone
(56:41):
till tired and faint, I was forced to lie down
on the ground to repose, but durst not sleep for
fear of being devoured. Some days after this, and after
I had been on board the ship and got all
I could out of her, yet I could not forbear
getting up to the top of a little mountain, and
(57:01):
looking out to sea in hopes of seeing a ship.
Then fancy at a vast distance, I spy to sail,
please myself with the hopes of it. And then, after
looking steadily till I was almost blind, lose it quite
and sit down and weep like a child, And thus
(57:23):
increased my misery by my folly. But having gotten over
these things in some measure, and having settled my household,
staff and habitation, made me a table and a chair,
and all as handsome about me as I could, I
began to keep my journal, of which I shall here
(57:45):
give you the copy, though in it will be told
all the particulars all over again, as long as it lasted,
for having no more ink, I was forced to leave
it off end of Chapter four
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