Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe - Chapter 5 – Builds a House

None

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Dream Audio Books Present Robinson Crusoe by Daniel de Foe,
Chapter five, Builds a House The Journal, September thirtieth, sixteen
fifty nine. I, poor, miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked during

(00:27):
a dreadful storm in the offing, came on shore on
this dismal, unfortunate island, which I call the Island of despair.
All the rest of the ship's company being drowned and
myself almost dead. All the rest of the day I
spent in inflicting myself at the dismal circumstances I was

(00:50):
brought to. That is, I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon,
nor place to fly to, and in despair of any relief,
saw nothing but death before me, either that I should
be devoured by wild beasts, murdered by savages, or starved

(01:12):
to death for want of food. At the approach of night,
I slept in a tree for fear of wild creatures,
but slept soundly, though it rained all night. October first.
In the morning I saw, to my great surprise the
ship had floated with the high tide and was driven

(01:34):
on shore again, much nearer than island, which, as it was,
some comfort on one hand, for seeing her set upright
and not broken to pieces, I hoped, if the wind abated,
I might get on board and get some food and
necessaries out of her for my relief. So on the
other hand, it renewed my grief at the loss of

(01:56):
my comrades, who I imagined if we had stayed on board,
might have saved the ship, or at least that they
would not have been all drowned as they were, And
that had the men been saved, we might perhaps have
built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship,
to have carried us to some other part of the world.

(02:20):
I spent great part of this day in perplexing myself
on these things, but at length, seeing the ship almost dry,
I went upon the sand as near as I could,
and then swam on board. This day also it continued raining,
though with no wind at all, From the first of

(02:42):
October to the twenty fourth. All of these days entirely
spent in my several voyages to get all I could
out of the ship, which I brought on shore every
tide of flood upon rafts. Much rain also in the days,
though with some intervals of fair weather. But it seems

(03:05):
this was the rainy season. October twentieth, I overset my
raft and all the goods I had got upon it,
But being in shoal water, and the things being chiefly heavy,
I recovered many of them when the tide was out.

(03:25):
October twenty fifth. It rained all night and all day,
with some gusts of wind, during which time the ship
broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little harder than before,
and was no more to be seen except the wreck
of her, and that only at low water. I spent

(03:45):
this day in covering and securing the goods which I
had saved, that the rain might not spoil them. October
twenty sixth I walked about the shore almost all day
to find out a place to fix my habitation, greatly
concerned to secure myself from any attack in the night,

(04:08):
either from wild beasts or men. Towards night I fixed
upon a proper place under a rock, and marked out
a semicircle for my encampment, which I resolved to strengthen
with the work wall or fortification made of double piles,
lined within with cables and without with turf. From the

(04:32):
twenty sixth to the thirtieth I worked very hard in
carrying all my goods to my new habitation, though some
part of the time it rained exceedingly hard. The thirty first,
in the morning, I went out into the island with
my gun to seek for some food and discover the country.
When I killed a she goat and her kid followed

(04:54):
me home, which I afterwards killed, also because it would
not feed. November first, I set up my tent under
a rock and lay there for the first night, making
it as large as I could, with stakes driven in
to swing my hammock. Upon November second, I set up

(05:19):
all my chests and boards and the pieces of timber
which made my rafts, and with them formed a fence
round me a little within the place I had marked
out for my fortification. November three, I went out with
my gun and killed two fowls like ducks, which were

(05:39):
very good food, and in the afternoon went to work
to make me a table. November fourth, this morning I
began to order my times of work of going out
with my gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion.
That is, every morning I walked out with my gun

(05:59):
for two or three hours if it did not rain,
then employed myself to work till about eleven o'clock, then
eat what I had to live on, and from twelve
to two I lay down to sleep, the weather being
excessively hot, and then in the evening to work again.
The working part of this day and of the next

(06:20):
were wholly employed in making my table, for I was
yet but a very sorry workman, though time and necessity
made me a complete natural mechanic soon after, as I
believe they would do anyone else. November fifth, this day
went abroad with my gun and my dog and killed

(06:43):
a wild cat, her skin pretty soft, but her flesh
good for nothing. Every creature that I killed I took
of the skins and preserved them. Coming back to the seashore,
I saw many sorts of sea fowls, which I did
not understand, but was surprised and almost frightened with two
or three seals, which, while I was gazing at, not

(07:06):
well knowing what they were, got into the sea and
escaped me for that time. November sixth, after my morning walk,
I went to work with my table again and finished it,
though not by my liking, nor was it long before
I learned to mend it. November seventh, now it began

(07:28):
to be settled fair weather, the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth,
and part of the twelfth, and the eleventh was Sunday.
I took wholly up to make me a chair, and
with much ado brought it to a tolerable shape, but
never to please me, and even in the making I
pulled it in pieces several times. Note I soon neglected

(07:54):
my keeping Sundays, for omitting my mark for them on
my post. I forgot which was which. November thirteenth. This
day it rained, which refreshed me exceedingly and cooled the earth.
But it was accompanied with terrible thunder and lightning, which

(08:15):
frightened me dreadfully, for fear of my powder. As soon
as it was over, I resolved to separate my stock
of powder into as many little parcels as possible, that
it might not be in danger. November fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth.
These three days I spent in making little square chests

(08:35):
or boxes, which might hold about a pound or two
pounds at most of powder, and so putting the powder in,
I stowed it in places as secure and remote from
one another as possible. On one of these three days
I killed a large bird that was good to eat,

(08:57):
but I knew not what to call it? November seventeenth,
This day I began to dig behind my tent into
the rock to make room for my further conveniency. Note
three things I wanted exceedingly for this work, that is,
a pickaxe, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow or basket. So

(09:21):
I desisted from my work and began to consider hobs
to supply that want and make me some tools. As
for the pick axe, I made use of the iron crows,
which were proper enough, though heavy. But the next thing
was a shovel or spade. This was so absolutely necessary
that indeed I could do nothing effectually without it. But

(09:45):
what kind of one to make I knew not. November eighteenth.
The next day, in searching the woods, I found a
tree of that wood or like it, which in the
Brazils they call the eye iron tree for its exceeding hardness.
Of this, with great labor, and almost spoiling my axe,

(10:08):
I cut a piece and brought it home, too, with
difficulty enough, for it was exceedingly heavy. The excessive hardness
of the wood, and my having no other way, made
me a long while upon this machine, for I worked
it effectually by little and little into the form of

(10:28):
a shovel or spade, the handle exactly shaped like ours
in England, only that the board part having no iron
shod upon it at the bottom. It would not last
me for so long. However, it served well enough for
the uses which I had occasion to put it to.

(10:49):
But never was a shovel I believe made after that fashion,
or so long in making I was still deficient, for
I wanted a basket or a wheelbarrow. A basket I
could not make by any means, having no such things
as twigs that would bend to make wickerwear, at least

(11:09):
none yet found out. And as to a wheelbarrow, I
fancied I could make all but the wheel, but that
I had no notion of, neither did I know how
to go about it. Besides, I had no possible way
to make the iron gudgeons for the spindle or axis
of the wheel to run in, so I gave it over.

(11:32):
And so for carrying away the earth which I dug
out of the cave, I made me a thing like
a hod which the laborers carry mortar in when they
served the brick layers. This is not so difficult to
me as the making of the shovel. And yet this
in the shovel, and the attempt which I made in

(11:53):
vain to make a wheelbarrow took me up no less
than four days, I mean, always accepting my morning walk
with my gun, which I seldom failed and very seldom failed,
also bringing home something fit to eat. November twenty third,
my other work having now stood still because of my

(12:16):
making these tools. When they were finished, I went on
and working every day as my strength and time allowed.
I spent eighteen days entirely in widening and deepening my
cave that it might hold my goods commodiously. Note During
all this time I worked to make this room or

(12:37):
cave spacious enough to accommodate me as a warehouse or magazine,
a kitchen, a dining room, and a cellar. As for
my lodging. I kept to the tent, except that sometimes
in the wet season of the year, it rained so
hard that I could not keep myself dry, which caused

(12:57):
me afterwards to cover all my place within my pail
with long poles in the form of rafters leaning against
the rock, and load them with flags and large leaves
of trees like a thatch. December tenth, I began now

(13:17):
to think my cave or vault finished, when on a
sudden it seems I had made it too large. A
great quantity of earth fell down from the top on
one side, so much that, in short it frightened me,
and not without reason too, for if I had been
under it, I had never wanted a grave digger. I

(13:40):
had now a great deal of work to do over again,
for I had the loose earth all to carry out,
and which was of more importance, I had the ceiling
to prop up so that I might be sure no
more would come down. December eleventh. This day I went
to work with it accordingly, and got two shores or

(14:02):
posts pitched upright to the top, with two pieces of
boards across over each post. This I finished the next day,
and setting more posts up with boards. In about a
week more, I had the roof secured, and the posts
standing in rows served me for partitions to part off

(14:24):
the house December seventeenth. From this day to the twentieth
I placed shelves and knocked up nails on the posts
to hang everything up that could be hung up. And
now I began to be in some order within doors.
December twentieth. Now I carried everything into the cave and

(14:48):
began to furnish my house, and set up some pieces
of boards like a dresser to order my victuals upon.
But boards began to be very scarce with me. Also,
I made me another table. December twenty fourth, much rain
all day and all night, no stirring out. December twenty fifth,

(15:14):
rain all day. December twenty sixth no rain, and the
earth much cooler than before, and pleasanter. December twenty seventh
killed a young goat and lamed another, so that I
caught it and let it home in a string. And
when I had it at home, I bound and splintered

(15:36):
up its leg, which was broke, not te bene. I
took such care of it that it lived, and the
leg grew well and as strong as ever. But by
my nursing it so long, it grew tame and fed
upon the little green at my door, and would not
go away. This was the first time that I entertained

(15:58):
a thought of breeding up some tame creatures that I
might have food when my powder and shot was all spent.
December twenty eighth, twenty ninth, thirtieth and thirty first gray
heats and no breeze, so that there was no stirring
abroad except in the evening for food. This time I

(16:22):
spent in putting all my things in order within doors.
January first, very hot still, but I went abroad early
and late with my gun, and lay still in the
middle of the day. This evening. Going farther into the
valleys which lay towards the center of the island, I

(16:44):
found there were plenty of goats, though exceedingly shy and
hard to come at. However, I resolved to try, if
I could not bring my dog to hunt them down.
January second. Accordingly, the next day I went out with
my dog and set him upon the goats. But I
was mistaken, for they all faced about upon the dog,

(17:06):
and he knew his danger too well, for he would
not come near them. January third, I began my fence
or wall, which, being still jealous of my being attacked
by somebody, I resolved to make very thick and strong.
Note Beny this wall being described before, I purposely admit

(17:31):
what was said in the journal, it is sufficient to
observe that I was no less time than from the
second of January to the fourteenth of April working, finishing
and perfecting this wall, though it was no more than
about twenty four yards in length, being a half circle
from one place in the rock to another place about

(17:52):
eight yards from it, the door of the cave being
in the center behind it. All this time I worked
very hard, the rains hindering me many days, nay sometimes
weeks together, but I thought I should never be perfectly
secure till this wall was finished. And it is scarce

(18:12):
credible what inexpressible labor everything was done with, especially the
bringing of piles out of the woods and driving them
into the ground, for I made them much bigger than
I needed to have done. When this wall was finished
and the outside double fenced, with the turf wall raised

(18:34):
up close to it, I perceived myself that if any
people were to come on shore there, they would not
perceive anything like a habitation. And it was very well
I did so, as may be observed hereafter upon a
very remarkable occasion. During this time, I made my rounds

(18:55):
in the woods for game every day when the rain
permitted me, and made frequent discoveries in these walks of
something or other to my advantage. Particularly, I found a
kind of wild pigeons which build not as wood pigeons
in a tree, but rather as house pigeons in the

(19:17):
holes of the rocks, and taking some young ones, I
endeavored to bring them up, came and did so. But
when they grew older they flew away, which perhaps was
at first for want of feeding them, for I had
nothing to give them. However, I frequently found their nests
and got their young ones, which were very good meat.

(19:40):
And now in the managing of my household affairs, I
found myself wanting in many things which I thought at
first it was impossible for me to make, as indeed
with some of them it was. For instance, I could
never make a cask to be whooped. I had a
small runlet or two, as I observed before, but I

(20:04):
could not ever arrive at the capacity of making one
by them, though I spent many weeks about it. I
could never put in the heads or join the staves
so true to one another as to make them hold water.
So I gave that also over In the next place,

(20:25):
I was at a great loss for candles, so that
as soon as ever it was dark, which was generally
by seven o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed.
I remembered the lump of beeswax, with which I made
candles in my African adventure. But I had none of
that now. The only remedy I had was that when

(20:46):
I killed a goat, I saved the tallow, which with
a little dish made of clay, which I baked up
in the sun, and to which I added a wick
of some oakum, and made me a lamp. And this
gave me light, though not a clear, steady light like
a candle. In the middle of all my labors, it

(21:08):
happened that rummaging my things, I found a little bag, which,
as I hinted before, had been filled with corn for
the feeding of poultry, not for this voyage, but before,
as I suppose, when the ship came from Lisbon, the
little remainder of corn that had been in the bag
was all devoured by the rats, and I saw nothing

(21:30):
in the bag but husts and dust. And, being willing
to have the bag for some other use, I think
it was to put my powder in. When I divided
it for fear of the lightning, or some such use,
I shook the husts of corn out of it. On
one side of my fortification under the rock. It was

(21:53):
a little before the great rains just now mentioned that
I threw this stuff away, taking no notice, not so
much as remembering that I had thrown anything there. When
about a month after or thereabouts, I saw some few
stalks of something green shooting out of the ground, which
I fancied might be some plant I had not seen.

(22:16):
But I was surprised and perfectly astonished when after a
little longer time I saw about ten or twelve years
come out which were perfect green barley, of the same
kind as our European nay as our English barley. It
is impossible to express the astonishment and confusion of my

(22:40):
thoughts on this occasion. I had hitherto acted upon no
religious foundation at all. Indeed, I had very few notions
of religion in my head, nor had entertained any sense
of anything that had befallen me otherwise than as chance,
or as we likely say, what pleases got God, without

(23:01):
so much as inquiring into the end of providence in
these things, or his order in governing events for the world.
But after I saw barley growing there in a climate
which I knew was not proper for corn, and especially
that I knew not how it came there, it startled

(23:22):
me strangely, and I began to suggest that God had
miraculously caused his grain to grow without any help of
seed sown, and that it was so directed purely for
my sustenance on that wild, miserable place. This touched my
heart a little and brought tears out of my eyes,

(23:44):
and I began to bless myself that such a prodigy
of nature should happen upon my account. And this was
the more strange to me, because I saw near it, still,
all along by the side of the rock, some other
straggling stalks, which proved to be stalks of rice, in
which I knew because I had seen it grow in

(24:05):
Africa when I was ashore there. I not only thought
these the pure productions of Providence for my support, but
not doubting that there was more in the place. I
went all over that part of the island where I
had been before, peering in every corner and under every
rock to see for more of it, but I could

(24:27):
not find any. At last, it occurred to my thoughts
that I shook a bag of chickens meat out in
that place, and then the wonder began to cease, and
I must confess my religious thankfulness to God's providence began
to abate too, upon the discovering that all this was
nothing but what was common. Though I ought to have

(24:51):
been as thankful for so strange and unforeseen a providence
as if it had been miraculous, For it was really
the work of problemvidence to me that should order, or
a point, that ten or twelve grains of corn should
remain unspoiled when the rats had destroyed all the rest,

(25:12):
as if it had been dropped from heaven. As also
that I should throw it out in that particular place,
where it, being in the shade of a high rock,
it sprang up immediately, whereas if I had thrown it
anywhere else at that time it had been burnt up
and destroyed. I carefully saved the ears of this corn,

(25:36):
you may be sure, in their season, which was about
the end of June, and laying up every corn. I
resolved to sow them all again, hoping in time to
have some quantity sufficient to supply me with bread. But
it was not till the fourth year that I could
allow myself the least grain of this corn to eat.

(25:57):
And even then, but sparingly, as I shall say afterwards,
in its order for I lost all that I sowed
the first season by not observing the proper time, For
I sowed it just before the dry season, so that
it never came up at all, at least not as
it would have done. Of which, in its place, besides

(26:21):
this barley, there were as above twenty or thirty stalks
of rice, which I preserved with the same care and
for the same use, or to the same purpose, to
make me bread, or rather food, for I found ways
to cook it without baking, though I did that also
after some time. But to return to my journal, I

(26:48):
worked excessive hard these three or four months to get
my wall done, and the fourteenth of April I closed
it up, contriving to go into it not by a door,
but over the wall a ladder, that there might be
no sign on the outside of my habitation. April sixteenth,

(27:09):
I finished my ladder. So I went up the ladder
to the top, and then pulled it up after me
and let it down. In the inside. This was a
complete enclosure to me, for within I had room enough,
and nothing could come at me from without unless it
could first mount my wall. The very next day, after

(27:30):
this wall was finished, I had almost all my labor
overthrown at once, and myself killed. The case was this,
As I was busy in the inside behind my tent,
just at the entrance into my cave, I was terribly
frighted with the most dreadful, surprising thing. Indeed, for all
of a sudden I found the earth come crumbling down

(27:53):
from the roof of my cave, and from the edge
of the hill over my head. In two of the
posts I had set up in the cave cracked in
a frightful manner. I was heartily scared, but thought nothing
of it, of what was really the cause, only thinking
that the top of my cave had fallen in, as

(28:13):
some of it had done before, and for fear I
should be buried in it, I ran forward to my ladder, and,
not thinking myself safe there, neither I got over my wall,
for fear of the pieces of the hill which I
expected might roll down upon me. I had no sooner
step to ground than I plainly saw. It was a

(28:33):
terrible earthquake, for the ground I stood on shook three
times at about eight minutes distance, with three such shocks
as would have overturned the strongest building that could be
supposed to have stood on the earth, and a great
piece of the top of a rock, which stood about

(28:54):
half a mile from me, next to the sea, fell
down with such a terrible noise as I never heard
in all my life. I perceived also the very sea
was put into violent motion by it, and I believed
the shocks were stronger under the water than on the island.
I was so much amazed with the thing itself, having

(29:16):
never felt the like, nor discoursed with anyone that had that.
I was like one dead or stupefied, and the motion
of the earth made my stomach sick, like one that
was tossed at sea. But the noise of the falling
of the rock awakened me as it were, and rousing
me from the stupefied condition I was in filled me

(29:39):
with horror, and I thought of nothing then but the
hill falling upon my tent and all my household goods,
and bearing all at once. And this sunk my very
soul within me. A second time. After the third chap
was over, and I felt no more for some time.

(30:01):
I began to take courage, and yet I had not
hard enough to go over my wall again, for fear
of being buried alive, but sat still upon the ground,
greatly cast down and disconsolate, not knowing what to do.
All this while I had not the least serious religious thought.

(30:23):
Nothing but the common Lord have mercy upon me. And
when it was over, that went away too. While I
sat thus, I found the air overcast and grow cloudy,
and as if it would rain. Soon after that, the
wind arose by little and little, so that in less

(30:45):
than half an hour it blew a most dreadful hurricane.
The sea was all of a sudden covered over with
foam and froth. The shore was covered with the breach
of the water, the trees were torn up by the roots,
and a terrible storm it was. This held about three hours,
and then began to abate, and in two hours more

(31:08):
it was quite calm and began to rain very hard.
All this while I sat upon the ground, very much
terrified and dejected. When on a sudden it came into
my thoughts that these winds and rain being the consequences
of the earthquake, the earthquake itself was spent and over,

(31:29):
and I might venture into my cave again. With this thought,
my spirits began to revive, and the rain, also helping
to persuade me, I went in and sat down in
my tent, But the rain was so violent that my
tent was ready to be beaten down with it, and
I was forced to go into my cave, though very

(31:51):
much afraid and uneasy for fear it would fall on
my head. This violent rain forced me to a new work,
that is, to cut a hole through my new fortification
like a sink, to let the water go out, which
would else have flooded my cave. After I had been

(32:11):
in my cave for some time and found still no
more shocks of the earthquake follow I began to be
more composed and now to support my spirits, which indeed
wanted it very much, I went to my little store
and took a small sup of rum, which however I
did then and always very sparingly, knowing I could have

(32:33):
no more. When that was gone. It continued raining all
that night in great part of the day, so that
I could not stir abroad. But my mind, being more composed,
I began to think of what I had best do,
concluding that if the island was subject to these earthquakes,

(32:55):
there would be no living for me in the cave.
But I must consider of building a little hut in
an open space, which I might surround with a wall,
as I had done before, and so make myself secure
from wild beasts or men. For I concluded, if I
stayed where I was, I should certainly, one time or other,

(33:16):
be buried alive. With these thoughts, I resolved to remove
my tent from the place where it stood, which was
just under the hanging precipice of the hill, and which,
if it should be shaken again, would certainly fall upon
my tent. And I spent the next two days, being
the nineteenth and twentieth of April, in contriving where and

(33:39):
how to remove my habitation. The fear of being swallowed
up alive made me that I never slept in quiet,
and yet the apprehension of lying abroad without any fence
was almost equal to it. But still, when I looked
about and saw how everything was put in order, how

(34:00):
pleasantly concealed I was, and how safe from danger, it
made me very loath to remove. In the meantime, it
occurred to me that it would require a vast deal
of time for me to do this, and that I
must be contented to venture where I was till I
had formed a camp for myself and had secured it

(34:23):
so as to remove to it. So with this resolution
I composed myself for a time and resolved that I
would go to work with all speed to build me
a wall with piles and cables, et cetera, in a
circle as before, and set my tin up in it
when it was finished, but that I would venture to
stay where I was till it was finished and fit

(34:47):
to remove. This was the twenty first April twenty second.
The next morning I began to consider of means to
put this resolve into execution. But I was at a
great loss about my tools. I had three large axes

(35:07):
and abundance of hatchets, for we carry the hatchets for
traffic with the Indians. But with much chopping and cutting
nottty hard wood, they were all full of notches and dull,
and though I had a grindstone, I could not turn
it and grind my tools too. This cost me as

(35:31):
much thought as a statesman would have bestowed upon a
grand point of politics, or a judge upon the life
and death of a man. At length, I contrived a
wheel with the string to turn it with my foot,
that I might have both my hands at liberty note

(35:51):
I had never seen any such thing in England, or
at least not to take notice how it was done,
though since I have observed it is very common there.
Besides that, my grindstone was very heavy and large. This
machine cost me a full week's work to bring it
to perfection. April twenty eighth and twenty ninth. These two

(36:18):
whole days I took up in grinding my tools, my
machine for turning my grindstone, performing very well. April thirtieth,
having perceived my bread had been low a great while now,
I took a survey of it and reduced myself to
one biscuit cake a day, which made my heart very heavy.

(36:42):
May first in the morning, looking towards the sea side,
the tide being low, I saw something lye on the shore,
bigger than ordinary, and it looked like a cask. When
I came to it, I found a small barrel and

(37:03):
two or three pieces of the wreck of the ship,
which were driven on shore by the late hurricane. And
looking towards the wreck itself, I thought it seemed to
lie higher out of the water than it used to.
I examined the barrel which was driven on shore, and
soon found that it was a barrel of gunpowder, but

(37:26):
it had taken water, and the powder was caked as
hard as a stone. However, I rolled it farther on
shore for the present, and went on upon the sands
as near as I could, to the wreck of the ship,
to look for more. End of Chapter five.