August 11, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter seven, Agricultural Experience. I had now been in this
unhappy island above ten months. All possibility of deliverance from
this condition seemed to be entirely taken from me, and
I firmly believed that no human shape had ever set
(00:21):
foot upon that place. Having now secured my habitation, as
I thought fully to my mind, I had a great
desire to make a more perfect discovery of the island,
and to see what other productions I might find, which
I yet knew nothing of. It was on the fifteenth
of July that I began to take a more particular
(00:44):
survey of the island itself. I went up the creek first,
where as I hinted, I brought my rafts on shore.
I found, after I came about two miles up, that
the tide did not flow any high, and that it
was no more than a little brook of running water,
(01:04):
very fresh and good. But this being the dry season,
there was hardly any water in some parts of it,
at least not enough to run in any stream, so
as it could be perceived. On the banks of this brook,
I found many pleasant savannahs or meadows, plains smooth and
(01:28):
covered with grass, and on the rising parts of them.
Next to the higher grounds, where the water, as might
be supposed, never overflowed, I found a great deal of tobacco,
green and growing to a great and very strong stalk.
There were divers other plants which I had no notion
(01:52):
of or understanding about, that might perhaps have virtues of
their own, which I could not find out. I searched
for the cassavar root, which the Indians in all that
climate make their bread of, but I could find none.
I saw large plants of aloes, but did not understand them.
(02:15):
I saw several sugar canes, but wild and for want
of cultivation imperfect. I contented myself with these discoveries for
this time, and came back musing with myself what course
I might take to know the virtue and goodness of
any of the fruits or plants which I should discover,
(02:35):
but could bring it to no conclusion, For in short,
I had made so little observation while I was in
the Brazils that I knew little of the plants in
the field, at least very little that might serve to
any purpose. Now in my distress, the next day, the sixteenth,
(02:56):
I went up the same way again, and after going
somewhat for a seas than I had gone the day before.
I found the brook and the savannahs cease, and the
country become more woody than before. In this part I
found different fruits, and particularly I found melons upon the
ground in great abundance, and grapes upon the trees. The
(03:20):
vines had spread indeed over the trees, and the clusters
of grapes were just now in their prime, very ripe
and rich. This was a surprising discovery, and I was
exceeding glad of them. But I was warned by my
experience to eat sparingly of them, remembering that when I
(03:41):
was ashore in Barbary, the eating of grapes killed several
of our Englishmen who were slaves there by throwing them
into fluxes and fevers. But I found an excellent use
for these grapes, and that was to cure or dry
them in the sun, and keep them as dried grapes
(04:04):
or raisins are kept, which I thought would be as
indeed they were wholesome and agreeable to eat when no
grapes could be had. I spent all that evening there
and went back to my habitation, which by the way,
was the first night, as I might say, I had
lain from home. In the night I took my first
(04:27):
contrivance and got up in a tree, where I slept well,
and the next morning proceeded upon my discovery, traveling nearly
four miles, as I might judge by the length of
the valley, keeping still due north, with a ridge of
hills on the south and north side of me. At
(04:49):
the end of this march I came to an opening
where the country seemed to descend to the west, and
a little spring of fresh water, which issued out of
the side of the hill by me, ran the other way,
that is due east, and the country appeared so fresh,
so green, so flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure
(05:15):
or flourish of spring, that it looked like a planted garden.
I descended a little on the side of that delicious vale,
surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure, though mixed
with my other afflicting thoughts, to think that this was
all my own, that I was king and lord of
(05:38):
all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession,
and if I could convey it, I might have it
in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor
in England. I saw here abundance of cocoa trees, orange
and lemon and citron trees, but all wild, and very
(06:03):
few bearing any fruit at least not then. However, the
green limes that I gathered were not only pleasant to eat,
but very wholesome, and I mixed their juice afterwards with
water and made it very wholesome and very cool and refreshing.
(06:23):
I found now I had business enough to gather and
carry home, and I resolved to lay up a store
as well of grapes as limes and lemons, to furnish
myself for the wet season, which I knew was approaching.
In order to do this, I gathered a great heap
of grapes in one place, a lesser heap in another place,
(06:47):
and a great parcel of limes and lemons in another place,
and taking a few of each with me, I traveled homewards,
resolving to come again and bring a bag or sack,
or what I can make to carry the rest home. Accordingly,
having spent three days in this journey, I came home.
(07:10):
So I must now call my tent in my cave
my home. But before I got thither, the grapes were spoiled,
the richness of the fruit and the weight of the juice.
Having broken them and bruised them, they were good for
little or nothing. As to the limes, they were good,
(07:31):
but I could bring but a few. The next day,
being the nineteenth, I went back, having made me two
small bags to bring home my harvest. But I was
surprised when coming to my heap of grapes, which were
so rich and fine, when I gathered them, to find
them all spread about, trod to pieces, and dragged about,
(07:56):
some here, some there, and abundance eaten and devoured. By this,
I concluded there were some wild creatures thereabouts which had
done this, but what they were I knew not. However,
as I found there was no laying them up on heaps,
(08:17):
and no carrying them away in a sack, but that
one way they would be destroyed, and the other way
they would be crushed with their own weight. I took
another course, for I gathered a large quantity of the
grapes and hung them trees that they might cure and
(08:38):
dry in the sun. And as for the limes and lemons,
I carried as many back as I could well stand under.
When I came home from this journey, I contemplated with
great pleasure the fruitfulness of that valley, and the pleasantness
of the situation, the security from storms on that side
(09:00):
of the water and the wood, and concluded that I
had pitched upon a place to fix my abode, which
was by far the worst part of the country. Upon
the whole I began to consider of removing my habitation
and looking out for a place equally safe as where
now I was situated, if possible, in that pleasant, fruitful
(09:24):
part of the island. This thought ran long in my head,
and I was exceedingly fond of it for some time,
the pleasantness of the place tempting me. But when I
came to a nearer view of it, I considered that
I was now by the seaside where it was at
least possible that something might happen to my advantage, and
(09:49):
by the same ill fate that brought me hither might
bring some other unhappy wretches to the same place. And
though it was scarce probable that any such thing should
ever happen, yet to enclose myself among the hills and
woods and the center of the island was to anticipate
(10:11):
my bondage, and to render such an affair not only
improbable but impossible, and that therefore I ought not by
any means to remove. However, I was so enamored of
this place that I spent much of my time there
for the whole of the remaining part of the month
of July, And though upon second thoughts I resolved not
(10:35):
to move, yet I built me a little kind of
a bower and surrounded it at a distance with strong fence,
being a double hedge as high as I could reach,
well staked and filled between with brushwood. And here I
lay very secure, sometimes two or three nights together, always
(10:56):
going over it with a ladder, so that I found see.
Now I had my country house and my seacoast house.
And this work took me up to the beginning of August.
I had but newly finished my fence and begun to
enjoy my labor when the rains came on and made
(11:19):
me stick close to my first habitation. For though I
had made me a tent like the other with a
piece of sail, and spread it very well, yet I
had not the shelter of a hill to keep me
from storms, nor a cave behind me to retreat. Into
when the rains were extraordinary about the beginning of August,
(11:42):
as I said, I had finished my bower and began
to enjoy myself. The third of August, I found the
grapes I had hung up perfectly dried, and indeed were excellent,
good raisins of the sun. So I began to take
them down from the trees. And it was very happy
that I did so, for the rains which followed would
have spoiled them, and I had lost the best part
(12:05):
of my winter food, for I had above two hundred
large bunches of them. No sooner had I taken them
down and carried the most of them home to my cave.
And then it began to rain, and from hints, which
was the fourteenth of August, it rained more or less
every day till the middle of October, and sometimes so
(12:28):
violently that I could not stir out of my cave
for several days. In this season, I was much surprised
with the increase of my family. I had been concerned
for the loss of one of my cats, who ran
away from me, or as I thought had been dead,
and I heard no more tidings of her till to
my astonishment, she came home about the end of August
(12:52):
with three kittens. This was the more strange to me
because though I had killed a wild cat, as I
called it, with my gun, yet I thought it was
quite a different kind from our European cats. But the
young cats were the same kind of house breed as
the old one, and both my cats being females, I
(13:13):
thought it very strange. But from these three cats, I
afterwards came to be so pestered with cats that I
was forced to kill them like vermin or wild beasts,
and to drive them from my house as much as possible.
From the fourteenth of August to the twenty sixth, incessant
rain so that I could not stir, and was now
(13:36):
very thankful not to be much wet. In this confinement,
I began to be straightened for food, but venturing out
twice I one day killed a goat, and the last day,
which was the twenty sixth, found a very large tortoise,
which was a treat to me, and my food was regulated.
Thus I ate a bunch of raisins for my breakfast,
(13:59):
a piece of the boat's flesh or of the turtle
for my dinner, broiled for to my great misfortune. I
had no vessel to boil or stew anything, and two
or three of the turtle's eggs for my supper. During
this confinement in my cover by the rain, I worked
(14:19):
daily two or three hours at enlarging my cave, and
by degrees worked it on towards one side till I
came to the outside of the hill and made a
door or way out which came beyond my fence or wall.
And so I came in and out this way. But
I was not perfectly easy at lying so open, For
(14:42):
as I had managed myself before, I was in a
perfect enclosure, whereas now I thought I lay exposed and
opened for anything to come in upon me. And yet
I could not perceive that there was any living thing
to fear. The biggest creature that I had yet seen
upon the island being a goat. September thirtieth, I was
(15:07):
now come to the unhappy anniversary of my landing. I
cast up the notches on my post and found I
had been on shore three hundred and sixty five days.
I kept this day as a solemn fast, setting it
apart for religious exercise, prostrating myself on the ground with
the most serious humiliation, confessing my sins to God, acknowledging
(15:32):
his righteous judgments upon me, and praying to him to
have mercy on me through Jesus Christ, and not having
tasted the least refreshment for twelve hours even till the
going down of the sun. I then ate a biscuit
cake and a bunch of grapes, and went to bed,
finishing the day as I began it. I had all
(15:56):
this time observed no Sabbath day, for as at first
I had no sense of religion upon my mind, I
had after some time omitted to distinguish the weeks by
making a longer notch than ordinary for the Sabbath day,
and so did not really know what any of the
days were. But now having cast up the days as above,
(16:20):
I found I had been there a year. So I
divided it in two weeks and set apart every seventh
day for a Sabbath, though I found at the end
of my account I had lost a day or two
in my reckoning. A little after this, my ink began
to fail me, and so I contented myself to use
it more sparingly, and to write down only the most
(16:43):
memorable events of my life without continuing a daily memorandum
of other things. The rainy season and the dry season
began now to appear regular to me, and I learned
to divide them to provide for them accordingly. But I
(17:04):
bought all my experience before I had it, and this
I am going to relate was one of the most
discouraging experiments that I made. I have mentioned that I
had saved the few years of barley and rice, which
I had so surprisingly found spring up as I thought
of themselves, and I believe there were about thirty stocks
(17:27):
of rice and about twelve of barley, and now I
thought it a proper time to sow it. After the rains,
the sunbeam in its southern position going from me. Accordingly,
I dug up a piece of ground as well as
I could with my wooden spade, and dividing it into
two parts, I sowed my grain. But as I was
(17:49):
sowing it casually occurred to my thoughts that I would
not sew it all at first, because I did not
know what was the proper time for it. I sewed
about two thirds of the seed, and leaving about a
handful of each. It was a great comfort to me
afterwards that I did so for not one grain of
(18:11):
what I sowed this time came to anything. For the
dry months following the earth having had no rain after
the seed was sown, it had little moisture to assist
its growth, and never came up at all till the
wet season had come again, and then it grew as
much as if it had been but newly sown. Finding
(18:34):
my first seed did not grow, which I easily imagined
was by the drought, I sought out for a moisture
piece of ground to make another trial, And I dug
up a piece of ground near my new bower, and
sowed the rest of my seed in February, a little
before the vernal equinox. And this, having the rainy months
(18:56):
of March and April toward, it sprung up very pleasantly
and yielded a very good crop. And having part of
the seed left only, and not daring to sow all
that I had, I had but a small quantity at last,
my whole crop, not amounting to above half a peck
of each kind. But by this experiment I was made
(19:19):
master of my business, and knew exactly when the proper
season was to sow, and that I might expect two
seed times and two harvests every year. While this corn
was growing, I made a little discovery which was of
use to me afterwards. As soon as the rains were
(19:39):
over and the weather began to settle, which was about
the month of November, I made a visit up the
country to my bower, where, though I had not been
some months yet, I found all things just as I
left them. The circle or double edge that I had
made was not only firm and entire, but the steaks
(20:03):
which I had cut out of some trees that grew
thereabouts were all shot out and grown with long branches,
as much as a willow tree usually shoots the first
year after lopping its head. I could not tell what
tree to call it that these steaks were cut from.
I was surprised and yet well pleased to see the
(20:25):
young trees grow, and I pruned them and led them
up to grow as much alike as I could. And
it is scarce credible how beautiful a figure they grew
into in three years, so that though the hedge made
a circle of about twenty five yards in diameter, yet
(20:45):
the trees for such as I might now call them,
soon covered it, and it was a complete shade sufficient
to lodge under all the dry season. This made me
resolve to cut some more steak and make me a
hedge like this in a semicircle round my wall. I
mean that of my first dwelling, which I did in
(21:08):
placing the trees or steaks in a double row at
about eight yards distance from my first fence. They grew
presently and were at first a fine cover to my habitation,
and afterwards served for a defense. Also, as I shall
observe in its order, I found now that the seasons
(21:30):
of the year might generally be divided, not into summer
and winter, as in Europe, but into the rainy seasons
and the dry seasons, which were generally thus the half
of February, the whole of March, and the half of
April rainy, the sun being then on or near the equinox,
(21:52):
the half of April, the whole of May, June and July,
and the half of August dry, the sun being then
to the north of the line. The half of August,
the whole of September, and the half of October rainy,
the sun being then come back the half of October,
(22:12):
the whole of November, December, and January and the half
of February dry, the sun being then to the south
of the line. The rainy seasons sometimes held longer or
shorter as the winds happened to blow. But this was
the general observation I made. After I had found by
(22:33):
experience the ill consequences of being abroad in the rain,
I took care to furnish myself with provisions beforehand that
I might not be obliged to go out, and I
sat within doors as much as possible during the wet months.
This time I found much employment, and very suitable also
(22:54):
to the time, for I found great occasion for many
things which I had no way to furnish myself with,
but by hard labor and constant application. Particularly, I tried
many ways to make myself a basket, but all the
twigs I could get for the purpose proved so brittle
(23:15):
that they would do nothing. It proved of excellent advantage
to me now that when I was a boy, I
used to take great delight in standing at a basket
maker's in the town where my father lived, to see
them make their wicker wear, and being as boys usually
are very officious to help and a great observer of
(23:38):
the manner in which they worked these things, and sometimes
lending a hand. I had, by these means full knowledge
of the methods of it, and I wanted nothing but
the materials. When it came into my mind that the
twigs of that tree from whence I cut my steaks
that grew might possible be as tough as the sallows,
(24:02):
willows and ossiers in England, and I resolved to try accordingly.
The next day I went to my country house, as
I called it, and cutting down some of the smaller twigs,
I found them to my purpose as much as I
could desire. Whereupon I came the next time prepared with
(24:23):
a hatchet to cut down a quantity which I soon found,
for there was a great plenty of them. These I
set up to dry within my circle or hedge, and
when they were fit for use, I carried them to
my cave, and here during the next season I employed
myself in making, as well as I could, a great
(24:45):
many baskets, both to carry earth or to carry or
lay up anything as I had occasion. And though I
did not finish them very handsomely, yet I made them
sufficiently serviceable for my purpose. Thus, afterwards I took care
never to be without them, And as my wicker ware decayed,
(25:09):
I made more, especially strong, deep baskets to place my
corn in instead of sacks, when I should come to
have any quantity of it. Having mastered this difficulty and
employed a world of time about it, I bestirred myself
to see, if possible, how to supply two Once I
(25:31):
had no vessels to hold anything that was liquid, except
two runlets which were almost full of rum, and some
glass bottles, some of the common size, and others which
were case bottles square for the holding of water, spirits,
et cetera. I had not so much as a pot
(25:52):
to boil anything except a great kettle, which I saved
out of the ship, and which was too big for
such as I desired it, that is, to make broth
and stew a bit of meat by itself. The second
thing I fain would have had was a tobacco pipe,
but it was impossible to make me one. However, I
(26:15):
found a contrivance for that too. At last I employed
myself in planting my second rows of steaks or piles,
and in this wicker working all the summer or dry season.
When another business took me up more time than it
could be imagined. I could spare end of chapter seven,
Chapter seven, Agricultural Experience. I had now been in this
unhappy island above ten months. All possibility of deliverance from
this condition seemed to be entirely taken from me, and
I firmly believed that no human shape had ever set
(00:21):
foot upon that place. Having now secured my habitation, as
I thought fully to my mind, I had a great
desire to make a more perfect discovery of the island,
and to see what other productions I might find, which
I yet knew nothing of. It was on the fifteenth
of July that I began to take a more particular
(00:44):
survey of the island itself. I went up the creek first,
where as I hinted, I brought my rafts on shore.
I found, after I came about two miles up, that
the tide did not flow any high, and that it
was no more than a little brook of running water,
(01:04):
very fresh and good. But this being the dry season,
there was hardly any water in some parts of it,
at least not enough to run in any stream, so
as it could be perceived. On the banks of this brook,
I found many pleasant savannahs or meadows, plains smooth and
(01:28):
covered with grass, and on the rising parts of them.
Next to the higher grounds, where the water, as might
be supposed, never overflowed, I found a great deal of tobacco,
green and growing to a great and very strong stalk.
There were divers other plants which I had no notion
(01:52):
of or understanding about, that might perhaps have virtues of
their own, which I could not find out. I searched
for the cassavar root, which the Indians in all that
climate make their bread of, but I could find none.
I saw large plants of aloes, but did not understand them.
(02:15):
I saw several sugar canes, but wild and for want
of cultivation imperfect. I contented myself with these discoveries for
this time, and came back musing with myself what course
I might take to know the virtue and goodness of
any of the fruits or plants which I should discover,
(02:35):
but could bring it to no conclusion, For in short,
I had made so little observation while I was in
the Brazils that I knew little of the plants in
the field, at least very little that might serve to
any purpose. Now in my distress, the next day, the sixteenth,
(02:56):
I went up the same way again, and after going
somewhat for a seas than I had gone the day before.
I found the brook and the savannahs cease, and the
country become more woody than before. In this part I
found different fruits, and particularly I found melons upon the
ground in great abundance, and grapes upon the trees. The
(03:20):
vines had spread indeed over the trees, and the clusters
of grapes were just now in their prime, very ripe
and rich. This was a surprising discovery, and I was
exceeding glad of them. But I was warned by my
experience to eat sparingly of them, remembering that when I
(03:41):
was ashore in Barbary, the eating of grapes killed several
of our Englishmen who were slaves there by throwing them
into fluxes and fevers. But I found an excellent use
for these grapes, and that was to cure or dry
them in the sun, and keep them as dried grapes
(04:04):
or raisins are kept, which I thought would be as
indeed they were wholesome and agreeable to eat when no
grapes could be had. I spent all that evening there
and went back to my habitation, which by the way,
was the first night, as I might say, I had
lain from home. In the night I took my first
(04:27):
contrivance and got up in a tree, where I slept well,
and the next morning proceeded upon my discovery, traveling nearly
four miles, as I might judge by the length of
the valley, keeping still due north, with a ridge of
hills on the south and north side of me. At
(04:49):
the end of this march I came to an opening
where the country seemed to descend to the west, and
a little spring of fresh water, which issued out of
the side of the hill by me, ran the other way,
that is due east, and the country appeared so fresh,
so green, so flourishing, everything being in a constant verdure
(05:15):
or flourish of spring, that it looked like a planted garden.
I descended a little on the side of that delicious vale,
surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure, though mixed
with my other afflicting thoughts, to think that this was
all my own, that I was king and lord of
(05:38):
all this country indefensibly, and had a right of possession,
and if I could convey it, I might have it
in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor
in England. I saw here abundance of cocoa trees, orange
and lemon and citron trees, but all wild, and very
(06:03):
few bearing any fruit at least not then. However, the
green limes that I gathered were not only pleasant to eat,
but very wholesome, and I mixed their juice afterwards with
water and made it very wholesome and very cool and refreshing.
(06:23):
I found now I had business enough to gather and
carry home, and I resolved to lay up a store
as well of grapes as limes and lemons, to furnish
myself for the wet season, which I knew was approaching.
In order to do this, I gathered a great heap
of grapes in one place, a lesser heap in another place,
(06:47):
and a great parcel of limes and lemons in another place,
and taking a few of each with me, I traveled homewards,
resolving to come again and bring a bag or sack,
or what I can make to carry the rest home. Accordingly,
having spent three days in this journey, I came home.
(07:10):
So I must now call my tent in my cave
my home. But before I got thither, the grapes were spoiled,
the richness of the fruit and the weight of the juice.
Having broken them and bruised them, they were good for
little or nothing. As to the limes, they were good,
(07:31):
but I could bring but a few. The next day,
being the nineteenth, I went back, having made me two
small bags to bring home my harvest. But I was
surprised when coming to my heap of grapes, which were
so rich and fine, when I gathered them, to find
them all spread about, trod to pieces, and dragged about,
(07:56):
some here, some there, and abundance eaten and devoured. By this,
I concluded there were some wild creatures thereabouts which had
done this, but what they were I knew not. However,
as I found there was no laying them up on heaps,
(08:17):
and no carrying them away in a sack, but that
one way they would be destroyed, and the other way
they would be crushed with their own weight. I took
another course, for I gathered a large quantity of the
grapes and hung them trees that they might cure and
(08:38):
dry in the sun. And as for the limes and lemons,
I carried as many back as I could well stand under.
When I came home from this journey, I contemplated with
great pleasure the fruitfulness of that valley, and the pleasantness
of the situation, the security from storms on that side
(09:00):
of the water and the wood, and concluded that I
had pitched upon a place to fix my abode, which
was by far the worst part of the country. Upon
the whole I began to consider of removing my habitation
and looking out for a place equally safe as where
now I was situated, if possible, in that pleasant, fruitful
(09:24):
part of the island. This thought ran long in my head,
and I was exceedingly fond of it for some time,
the pleasantness of the place tempting me. But when I
came to a nearer view of it, I considered that
I was now by the seaside where it was at
least possible that something might happen to my advantage, and
(09:49):
by the same ill fate that brought me hither might
bring some other unhappy wretches to the same place. And
though it was scarce probable that any such thing should
ever happen, yet to enclose myself among the hills and
woods and the center of the island was to anticipate
(10:11):
my bondage, and to render such an affair not only
improbable but impossible, and that therefore I ought not by
any means to remove. However, I was so enamored of
this place that I spent much of my time there
for the whole of the remaining part of the month
of July, And though upon second thoughts I resolved not
(10:35):
to move, yet I built me a little kind of
a bower and surrounded it at a distance with strong fence,
being a double hedge as high as I could reach,
well staked and filled between with brushwood. And here I
lay very secure, sometimes two or three nights together, always
(10:56):
going over it with a ladder, so that I found see.
Now I had my country house and my seacoast house.
And this work took me up to the beginning of August.
I had but newly finished my fence and begun to
enjoy my labor when the rains came on and made
(11:19):
me stick close to my first habitation. For though I
had made me a tent like the other with a
piece of sail, and spread it very well, yet I
had not the shelter of a hill to keep me
from storms, nor a cave behind me to retreat. Into
when the rains were extraordinary about the beginning of August,
(11:42):
as I said, I had finished my bower and began
to enjoy myself. The third of August, I found the
grapes I had hung up perfectly dried, and indeed were excellent,
good raisins of the sun. So I began to take
them down from the trees. And it was very happy
that I did so, for the rains which followed would
have spoiled them, and I had lost the best part
(12:05):
of my winter food, for I had above two hundred
large bunches of them. No sooner had I taken them
down and carried the most of them home to my cave.
And then it began to rain, and from hints, which
was the fourteenth of August, it rained more or less
every day till the middle of October, and sometimes so
(12:28):
violently that I could not stir out of my cave
for several days. In this season, I was much surprised
with the increase of my family. I had been concerned
for the loss of one of my cats, who ran
away from me, or as I thought had been dead,
and I heard no more tidings of her till to
my astonishment, she came home about the end of August
(12:52):
with three kittens. This was the more strange to me
because though I had killed a wild cat, as I
called it, with my gun, yet I thought it was
quite a different kind from our European cats. But the
young cats were the same kind of house breed as
the old one, and both my cats being females, I
(13:13):
thought it very strange. But from these three cats, I
afterwards came to be so pestered with cats that I
was forced to kill them like vermin or wild beasts,
and to drive them from my house as much as possible.
From the fourteenth of August to the twenty sixth, incessant
rain so that I could not stir, and was now
(13:36):
very thankful not to be much wet. In this confinement,
I began to be straightened for food, but venturing out
twice I one day killed a goat, and the last day,
which was the twenty sixth, found a very large tortoise,
which was a treat to me, and my food was regulated.
Thus I ate a bunch of raisins for my breakfast,
(13:59):
a piece of the boat's flesh or of the turtle
for my dinner, broiled for to my great misfortune. I
had no vessel to boil or stew anything, and two
or three of the turtle's eggs for my supper. During
this confinement in my cover by the rain, I worked
(14:19):
daily two or three hours at enlarging my cave, and
by degrees worked it on towards one side till I
came to the outside of the hill and made a
door or way out which came beyond my fence or wall.
And so I came in and out this way. But
I was not perfectly easy at lying so open, For
(14:42):
as I had managed myself before, I was in a
perfect enclosure, whereas now I thought I lay exposed and
opened for anything to come in upon me. And yet
I could not perceive that there was any living thing
to fear. The biggest creature that I had yet seen
upon the island being a goat. September thirtieth, I was
(15:07):
now come to the unhappy anniversary of my landing. I
cast up the notches on my post and found I
had been on shore three hundred and sixty five days.
I kept this day as a solemn fast, setting it
apart for religious exercise, prostrating myself on the ground with
the most serious humiliation, confessing my sins to God, acknowledging
(15:32):
his righteous judgments upon me, and praying to him to
have mercy on me through Jesus Christ, and not having
tasted the least refreshment for twelve hours even till the
going down of the sun. I then ate a biscuit
cake and a bunch of grapes, and went to bed,
finishing the day as I began it. I had all
(15:56):
this time observed no Sabbath day, for as at first
I had no sense of religion upon my mind, I
had after some time omitted to distinguish the weeks by
making a longer notch than ordinary for the Sabbath day,
and so did not really know what any of the
days were. But now having cast up the days as above,
(16:20):
I found I had been there a year. So I
divided it in two weeks and set apart every seventh
day for a Sabbath, though I found at the end
of my account I had lost a day or two
in my reckoning. A little after this, my ink began
to fail me, and so I contented myself to use
it more sparingly, and to write down only the most
(16:43):
memorable events of my life without continuing a daily memorandum
of other things. The rainy season and the dry season
began now to appear regular to me, and I learned
to divide them to provide for them accordingly. But I
(17:04):
bought all my experience before I had it, and this
I am going to relate was one of the most
discouraging experiments that I made. I have mentioned that I
had saved the few years of barley and rice, which
I had so surprisingly found spring up as I thought
of themselves, and I believe there were about thirty stocks
(17:27):
of rice and about twelve of barley, and now I
thought it a proper time to sow it. After the rains,
the sunbeam in its southern position going from me. Accordingly,
I dug up a piece of ground as well as
I could with my wooden spade, and dividing it into
two parts, I sowed my grain. But as I was
(17:49):
sowing it casually occurred to my thoughts that I would
not sew it all at first, because I did not
know what was the proper time for it. I sewed
about two thirds of the seed, and leaving about a
handful of each. It was a great comfort to me
afterwards that I did so for not one grain of
(18:11):
what I sowed this time came to anything. For the
dry months following the earth having had no rain after
the seed was sown, it had little moisture to assist
its growth, and never came up at all till the
wet season had come again, and then it grew as
much as if it had been but newly sown. Finding
(18:34):
my first seed did not grow, which I easily imagined
was by the drought, I sought out for a moisture
piece of ground to make another trial, And I dug
up a piece of ground near my new bower, and
sowed the rest of my seed in February, a little
before the vernal equinox. And this, having the rainy months
(18:56):
of March and April toward, it sprung up very pleasantly
and yielded a very good crop. And having part of
the seed left only, and not daring to sow all
that I had, I had but a small quantity at last,
my whole crop, not amounting to above half a peck
of each kind. But by this experiment I was made
(19:19):
master of my business, and knew exactly when the proper
season was to sow, and that I might expect two
seed times and two harvests every year. While this corn
was growing, I made a little discovery which was of
use to me afterwards. As soon as the rains were
(19:39):
over and the weather began to settle, which was about
the month of November, I made a visit up the
country to my bower, where, though I had not been
some months yet, I found all things just as I
left them. The circle or double edge that I had
made was not only firm and entire, but the steaks
(20:03):
which I had cut out of some trees that grew
thereabouts were all shot out and grown with long branches,
as much as a willow tree usually shoots the first
year after lopping its head. I could not tell what
tree to call it that these steaks were cut from.
I was surprised and yet well pleased to see the
(20:25):
young trees grow, and I pruned them and led them
up to grow as much alike as I could. And
it is scarce credible how beautiful a figure they grew
into in three years, so that though the hedge made
a circle of about twenty five yards in diameter, yet
(20:45):
the trees for such as I might now call them,
soon covered it, and it was a complete shade sufficient
to lodge under all the dry season. This made me
resolve to cut some more steak and make me a
hedge like this in a semicircle round my wall. I
mean that of my first dwelling, which I did in
(21:08):
placing the trees or steaks in a double row at
about eight yards distance from my first fence. They grew
presently and were at first a fine cover to my habitation,
and afterwards served for a defense. Also, as I shall
observe in its order, I found now that the seasons
(21:30):
of the year might generally be divided, not into summer
and winter, as in Europe, but into the rainy seasons
and the dry seasons, which were generally thus the half
of February, the whole of March, and the half of
April rainy, the sun being then on or near the equinox,
(21:52):
the half of April, the whole of May, June and July,
and the half of August dry, the sun being then
to the north of the line. The half of August,
the whole of September, and the half of October rainy,
the sun being then come back the half of October,
(22:12):
the whole of November, December, and January and the half
of February dry, the sun being then to the south
of the line. The rainy seasons sometimes held longer or
shorter as the winds happened to blow. But this was
the general observation I made. After I had found by
(22:33):
experience the ill consequences of being abroad in the rain,
I took care to furnish myself with provisions beforehand that
I might not be obliged to go out, and I
sat within doors as much as possible during the wet months.
This time I found much employment, and very suitable also
(22:54):
to the time, for I found great occasion for many
things which I had no way to furnish myself with,
but by hard labor and constant application. Particularly, I tried
many ways to make myself a basket, but all the
twigs I could get for the purpose proved so brittle
(23:15):
that they would do nothing. It proved of excellent advantage
to me now that when I was a boy, I
used to take great delight in standing at a basket
maker's in the town where my father lived, to see
them make their wicker wear, and being as boys usually
are very officious to help and a great observer of
(23:38):
the manner in which they worked these things, and sometimes
lending a hand. I had, by these means full knowledge
of the methods of it, and I wanted nothing but
the materials. When it came into my mind that the
twigs of that tree from whence I cut my steaks
that grew might possible be as tough as the sallows,
(24:02):
willows and ossiers in England, and I resolved to try accordingly.
The next day I went to my country house, as
I called it, and cutting down some of the smaller twigs,
I found them to my purpose as much as I
could desire. Whereupon I came the next time prepared with
(24:23):
a hatchet to cut down a quantity which I soon found,
for there was a great plenty of them. These I
set up to dry within my circle or hedge, and
when they were fit for use, I carried them to
my cave, and here during the next season I employed
myself in making, as well as I could, a great
(24:45):
many baskets, both to carry earth or to carry or
lay up anything as I had occasion. And though I
did not finish them very handsomely, yet I made them
sufficiently serviceable for my purpose. Thus, afterwards I took care
never to be without them, And as my wicker ware decayed,
(25:09):
I made more, especially strong, deep baskets to place my
corn in instead of sacks, when I should come to
have any quantity of it. Having mastered this difficulty and
employed a world of time about it, I bestirred myself
to see, if possible, how to supply two Once I
(25:31):
had no vessels to hold anything that was liquid, except
two runlets which were almost full of rum, and some
glass bottles, some of the common size, and others which
were case bottles square for the holding of water, spirits,
et cetera. I had not so much as a pot
(25:52):
to boil anything except a great kettle, which I saved
out of the ship, and which was too big for
such as I desired it, that is, to make broth
and stew a bit of meat by itself. The second
thing I fain would have had was a tobacco pipe,
but it was impossible to make me one. However, I
(26:15):
found a contrivance for that too. At last I employed
myself in planting my second rows of steaks or piles,
and in this wicker working all the summer or dry season.
When another business took me up more time than it
could be imagined. I could spare end of chapter seven,
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