IT would have made a Stoic smile to
have seen me and my little
family sit down to dinner. There was
my majesty the prince and
lord of the whole island; I had the
lives of all my subjects at my
absolute command; I could hang,
draw, give liberty, and take it
away, and no rebels among all my
subjects. Then, to see how like a
king I dined, too, all alone,
attended by my servants! Poll, as if
he had been my favourite, was the
only person permitted to talk to
me. My dog, who was now grown old
and crazy, and had found no
species to multiply his kind upon,
sat always at my right hand; and
two cats, one on one side of the
table and one on the other,
expecting now and then a bit from my
hand, as a mark of especial
favour. But these were not the two cats
which I brought on shore at first,
for they were both of them dead, and
had been interred near my
habitation by my own hand; but one
of them having multiplied by I
know not what kind of creature,
these were two which I had
preserved tame; whereas the rest ran
wild in the woods, and became
indeed troublesome to me at last,
for they would often come into my
house, and plunder me too, till at
last I was obliged to shoot
them, and did kill a great many; at
length they left me. With this
attendance and in this plentiful
manner I lived; neither could I be
said to want anything but society;
and of that, some time after
this, I was likely to have too much. I was something impatient, as I have
observed, to have the use of
my boat, though very loath to run
any more hazards; and therefore
sometimes I sat contriving ways to
get her about the island, and at
other times I sat myself down
contented enough without her. But I
had a strange uneasiness in my mind
to go down to the point of the
island where, as I have said in my
last ramble, I went up the hill
to see how the shore lay, and how
the current set, that I might see
what I had to do: this inclination
increased upon me every day, and
at length I resolved to travel
thither by land, following the edge
of the shore. I did so; but had any
one in England met such a man
as I was, it must either have
frightened him, or raised a great
deal of laughter; and as I
frequently stood still to look at
myself, I could not but smile at the
notion of my travelling
through Yorkshire with such an
equipage, and in such a dress. Be
pleased to take a sketch of my
figure, as follows. I had a great high shapeless cap,
made of a goat's skin, with a
flap hanging down behind, as well to
keep the sun from me as to
shoot the rain off from running into
my neck, nothing being so
hurtful in these climates as the
rain upon the flesh under the
clothes. I had a short jacket of goat's skin,
the skirts coming down to
about the middle of the thighs, and
a pair of open-kneed breeches
of the same; the breeches were made
of the skin of an old he-goat,
whose hair hung down such a length
on either side that, like
pantaloons, it reached to the middle
of my legs; stockings and
shoes I had none, but had made me a
pair of somethings, I scarce
knew what to call them, like
buskins, to flap over my legs, and
lace on either side like
spatterdashes, but of a most
barbarous
shape, as indeed were all the rest
of my clothes.. I had on a broad belt of goat's skin
dried, which I drew together
with two thongs of the same instead
of buckles, and in a kind of a
frog on either side of this, instead
of a sword and dagger, hung a
little saw and a hatchet, one on one
side and one on the other. I
had another belt not so broad, and
fastened in the same manner,
which hung over my shoulder, and at
the end of it, under my left
arm, hung two pouches, both made of
goat's skin too, in one of
which hung my powder, in the other
my shot. At my back I carried
my basket, and on my shoulder my
gun, and over my head a great
clumsy, ugly, goat's-skin umbrella,
but which, after all, was the
most necessary thing I had about me
next to my gun. As for my
face, the colour of it was really
not so mulatto-like as one might
expect from a man not at all careful
of it, and living within nine
or ten degrees of the equinox. My
beard I had once suffered to
grow till it was about a quarter of
a yard long; but as I had both
scissors and razors sufficient, I
had cut it pretty short, except
what grew on my upper lip, which I
had trimmed into a large pair of
Mahometan whiskers, such as I had
seen worn by some Turks at
Sallee, for the Moors did not wear
such, though the Turks did; of
these moustachios, or whiskers, I
will not say they were long
enough to hang my hat upon them, but
they were of a length and
shape monstrous enough, and such as
in England would have passed
for frightful. But all this is by-the-bye; for as
to my figure, I had so few to
observe me that it was of no manner
of consequence, so I say no
more of that. In this kind of dress
I went my new journey, and was
out five or six days. I travelled
first along the sea-shore,
directly to the place where I first
brought my boat to an anchor to
get upon the rocks; and having no
boat now to take care of, I went
over the land a nearer way to the
same height that I was upon
before, when, looking forward to the
points of the rocks which lay
out, and which I was obliged to
double with my boat, as is said
above, I was surprised to see the
sea all smooth and quiet - no
rippling, no motion, no current, any
more there than in other
places. I was at a strange loss to
understand this, and resolved
to spend some time in the observing
it, to see if nothing from the
sets of the tide had occasioned it;
but I was presently convinced
how it was - viz. that the tide of
ebb setting from the west, and
joining with the current of waters
from some great river on the
shore, must be the occasion of this
current, and that, according as
the wind blew more forcibly from the
west or from the north, this
current came nearer or went farther
from the shore; for, waiting
thereabouts till evening, I went up
to the rock again, and then the
tide of ebb being made, I plainly
saw the current again as before,
only that it ran farther off, being
near half a league from the
shore, whereas in my case it set
close upon the shore, and hurried
me and my canoe along with it, which
at another time it would not
have done. This observation convinced me that I
had nothing to do but to
observe the ebbing and the flowing
of the tide, and I might very
easily bring my boat about the
island again; but when I began to
think of putting it in practice, I
had such terror upon my spirits
at the remembrance of the danger I
had been in, that I could not
think of it again with any patience,
but, on the contrary, I took
up another resolution, which was
more safe, though more laborious -
and this was, that I would build, or
rather make, me another
periagua or canoe, and so have one
for one side of the island, and
one for the other.. You are to understand that now I
had, as I may call it, two
plantations in the island - one my
little fortification or tent,
with the wall about it, under the
rock, with the cave behind me,
which by this time I had enlarged
into several apartments or caves,
one within another. One of these,
which was the driest and
largest, and had a door out beyond
my wall or fortification - that
is to say, beyond where my wall
joined to the rock - was all filled
up with the large earthen pots of
which I have given an account,
and with fourteen or fifteen great
baskets, which would hold five
or six bushels each, where I laid up
my stores of provisions,
especially my corn, some in the ear,
cut off short from the straw,
and the other rubbed out with my
hand. As for my wall, made, as before,
with long stakes or piles, those
piles grew all like trees, and were
by this time grown so big, and
spread so very much, that there was
not the least appearance, to
any one's view, of any habitation
behind them. Near this dwelling of mine, but a
little farther within the land,
and upon lower ground, lay my two
pieces of corn land, which I kept
duly cultivated and sowed, and which
duly yielded me their harvest
in its season; and whenever I had
occasion for more corn, I had
more land adjoining as fit as that. Besides this, I had my country seat,
and I had now a tolerable
plantation there also; for, first, I
had my little bower, as I
called it, which I kept in repair -
that is to say, I kept the
hedge which encircled it in
constantly fitted up to its usual
height, the ladder standing always
in the inside. I kept the
trees, which at first were no more
than stakes, but were now grown
very firm and tall, always cut, so
that they might spread and grow
thick and wild, and make the more
agreeable shade, which they did
effectually to my mind. In the
middle of this I had my tent always
standing, being a piece of a sail
spread over poles, set up for
that purpose, and which never wanted
any repair or renewing; and
under this I had made me a squab or
couch with the skins of the
creatures I had killed, and with
other soft things, and a blanket
laid on them, such as belonged to
our sea-bedding, which I had
saved; and a great watch-coat to
cover me. And here, whenever I
had occasion to be absent from my
chief seat, I took up my country
habitation. Adjoining to this I had my
enclosures for my cattle, that is to
say
my goats, and I had taken an
inconceivable deal of pains to fence
and enclose this ground. I was so
anxious to see it kept entire,
lest the goats should break through,
that I never left off till,
with infinite labour, I had stuck
the outside of the hedge so full
of small stakes, and so near to one
another, that it was rather a
pale than a hedge, and there was
scarce room to put a hand through
between them; which afterwards, when
those stakes grew, as they all
did in the next rainy season, made
the enclosure strong like a
wall, indeed stronger than any wall. This will testify for me that I was
not idle, and that I spared no
pains to bring to pass whatever
appeared necessary for my
comfortable support, for I
considered the keeping up a breed of
tame creatures thus at my hand would
be a living magazine of flesh,
milk, butter, and cheese for me as
long as I lived in the place, if
it were to be forty years; and that
keeping them in my reach
depended entirely upon my perfecting
my enclosures to such a degree
that I might be sure of keeping them
together; which by this
method, indeed, I so effectually
secured, that when these little
stakes began to grow, I had planted
them so very thick that I was
forced to pull some of them up
again. In this place also I had my grapes
growing, which I principally
depended on for my winter store of
raisins, and which I never
failed to preserve very carefully,
as the best and most agreeable
dainty of my whole diet; and indeed
they were not only agreeable,
but medicinal, wholesome,
nourishing, and refreshing to the
last
degree. As this was also about half-way
between my other habitation and the
place where I had laid up my boat, I
generally stayed and lay here
in my way thither, for I used
frequently to visit my boat; and I
kept all things about or belonging
to her in very good order.
Sometimes I went out in her to
divert myself, but no more hazardous
voyages would I go, scarcely ever
above a stone's cast or two from
the shore, I was so apprehensive of
being hurried out of my
knowledge again by the currents or
winds, or any other accident.
But now I come to a new scene of my
life. It happened one day,
about noon, going towards my boat, I
was exceedingly surprised with
the print of a man's naked foot on
the shore, which was very plain
to be seen on the sand. I stood like
one thunderstruck, or as if I
had seen an apparition. I listened,
I looked round me, but I could
hear nothing, nor see anything; I
went up to a rising ground to
look farther; I went up the shore
and down the shore, but it was
all one; I could see no other
impression but that one. I went to
it again to see if there were any
more, and to observe if it might
not be my fancy; but there was no
room for that, for there was
exactly the print of a foot - toes,
heel, and every part of a foot.
How it came thither I knew not, nor
could I in the least imagine;
but after innumerable fluttering
thoughts, like a man perfectly
confused and out of myself, I came
home to my fortification, not
feeling, as we say, the ground I
went on, but terrified to the last
degree, looking behind me at every
two or three steps, mistaking
every bush and tree, and fancying
every stump at a distance to be a
man. Nor is it possible to describe
how many various shapes my
affrighted imagination represented
things to me in, how many wild
ideas were found every moment in my
fancy, and what strange,
unaccountable whimsies came into my
thoughts by the way. When I came to my castle (for so I
think I called it ever after
this), I fled into it like one
pursued. Whether I went over by the
ladder, as first contrived, or went
in at the hole in the rock,
which I had called a door, I cannot
remember; no, nor could I
remember the next morning, for never
frightened hare fled to cover,
or fox to earth, with more terror of
mind than I to this retreat. I slept none that night; the farther
I was from the occasion of my
fright, the greater my apprehensions
were, which is something
contrary to the nature of such
things, and especially to the usual
practice of all creatures in fear;
but I was so embarrassed with my
own frightful ideas of the thing,
that I formed nothing but dismal
imaginations to myself, even though
I was now a great way off.
Sometimes I fancied it must be the
devil, and reason joined in with
me in this supposition, for how
should any other thing in human
shape come into the place? Where was
the vessel that brought them?
What marks were there of any other
footstep? And how was it
possible a man should come there?
But then, to think that Satan
should take human shape upon him in
such a place, where there could
be no manner of occasion for it, but
to leave the print of his foot
behind him, and that even for no
purpose too, for he could not be
sure I should see it - this was an
amusement the other way. I
considered that the devil might have
found out abundance of other
ways to have terrified me than this
of the single print of a foot;
that as I lived quite on the other
side of the island, he would
never have been so simple as to
leave a mark in a place where it
was ten thousand to one whether I
should ever see it or not, and in
the sand too, which the first surge
of the sea, upon a high wind,
would have defaced entirely. All
this seemed inconsistent with the
thing itself and with all the
notions we usually entertain of the
subtlety of the devil. Abundance of such things as these
assisted to argue me out of all
apprehensions of its being the
devil; and I presently concluded
then that it must be some more
dangerous creature - viz. that it
must be some of the savages of the
mainland opposite who had
wandered out to sea in their canoes,
and either driven by the
currents or by contrary winds, had
made the island, and had been on
shore, but were gone away again to
sea; being as loath, perhaps, to
have stayed in this desolate island
as I would have been to have
had them. While these reflections were rolling
in my mind, I was very
thankful in my thoughts that I was
so happy as not to be
thereabouts at that time, or that
they did not see my boat, by
which they would have concluded that
some inhabitants had been in
the place, and perhaps have searched
farther for me. Then terrible
thoughts racked my imagination about
their having found out my
boat, and that there were people
here; and that, if so, I should
certainly have them come again in
greater numbers and devour me;
that if it should happen that they
should not find me, yet they
would find my enclosure, destroy all
my corn, and carry away all my
flock of tame goats, and I should
perish at last for mere want. Thus my fear banished all my
religious hope, all that former
confidence in God, which was founded
upon such wonderful experience
as I had had of His goodness; as if
He that had fed me by miracle
hitherto could not preserve, by His
power, the provision which He
had made for me by His goodness. I
reproached myself with my
laziness, that would not sow any
more corn one year than would just
serve me till the next season, as if
no accident could intervene to
prevent my enjoying the crop that
was upon the ground; and this I
thought so just a reproof, that I
resolved for the future to have
two or three years' corn beforehand;
so that, whatever might come,
I might not perish for want of
bread. How strange a chequer-work of
Providence is the life of man! and
by
what secret different springs are
the affections hurried about, as
different circumstances present!
To-day we love what to-morrow we
hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow
we shun; to-day we desire what
to-morrow we fear, nay, even tremble
at the apprehensions of. This
was exemplified in me, at this time,
in the most lively manner
imaginable; for I, whose only
affliction was that I seemed
banished
from human society, that I was
alone, circumscribed by the
boundless ocean, cut off from
mankind, and condemned to what I
call
silent life; that I was as one whom
Heaven thought not worthy to be
numbered among the living, or to
appear among the rest of His
creatures; that to have seen one of
my own species would have
seemed to me a raising me from death
to life, and the greatest
blessing that Heaven itself, next to
the supreme blessing of
salvation, could bestow; I say, that
I should now tremble at the
very apprehensions of seeing a man,
and was ready to sink into the
ground at but the shadow or silent
appearance of a man having set
his foot in the island. Such is the uneven state of human
life; and it afforded me a great
many curious speculations
afterwards, when I had a little
recovered
my first surprise. I considered that
this was the station of life
the infinitely wise and good
providence of God had determined for
me; that as I could not foresee what
the ends of Divine wisdom
might be in all this, so I was not
to dispute His sovereignty; who,
as I was His creature, had an
undoubted right, by creation, to
govern and dispose of me absolutely
as He thought fit; and who, as
I was a creature that had offended
Him, had likewise a judicial
right to condemn me to what
punishment He thought fit; and that
it
was my part to submit to bear His
indignation, because I had sinned
against Him. I then reflected, that
as God, who was not only
righteous but omnipotent, had
thought fit thus to punish and
afflict me, so He was able to
deliver me: that if He did not think
fit to do so, it was my unquestioned
duty to resign myself
absolutely and entirely to His will;
and, on the other hand, it was
my duty also to hope in Him, pray to
Him, and quietly to attend to
the dictates and directions of His
daily providence, These thoughts took me up many
hours, days, nay, I may say weeks
and months: and one particular
effect of my cogitations on this
occasion I cannot omit. One morning
early, lying in my bed, and
filled with thoughts about my danger
from the appearances of
savages, I found it discomposed me
very much; upon which these
words of the Scripture came into my
thoughts, "Call upon Me in the
day of trouble, and I will deliver
thee, and thou shalt glorify
Me." Upon this, rising cheerfully
out of my bed, my heart was not
only comforted, but I was guided and
encouraged to pray earnestly
to God for deliverance: when I had
done praying I took up my Bible,
and opening it to read, the first
words that presented to me were,
"Wait on the Lord, and be of good
cheer, and He shall strengthen
thy heart; wait, I say, on the
Lord." It is impossible to express
the comfort this gave me. In answer,
I thankfully laid down the
book, and was no more sad, at least
on that occasion. In the middle of these cogitations,
apprehensions, and reflections,
it came into my thoughts one day
that all this might be a mere
chimera of my own, and that this
foot might be the print of my own
foot, when I came on shore from my
boat: this cheered me up a
little, too, and I began to persuade
myself it was all a delusion;
that it was nothing else but my own
foot; and why might I not come
that way from the boat, as well as I
was going that way to the
boat? Again, I considered also that
I could by no means tell for
certain where I had trod, and where
I had not; and that if, at
last, this was only the print of my
own foot, I had played the part
of those fools who try to make
stories of spectres and apparitions,
and then are frightened at them more
than anybody. Now I began to take courage, and to
peep abroad again, for I had
not stirred out of my castle for
three days and nights, so that I
began to starve for provisions; for
I had little or nothing within
doors but some barley-cakes and
water; then I knew that my goats
wanted to be milked too, which
usually was my evening diversion:
and the poor creatures were in great
pain and inconvenience for
want of it; and, indeed, it almost
spoiled some of them, and almost
dried up their milk. Encouraging
myself, therefore, with the
belief that this was nothing but the
print of one of my own feet,
and that I might be truly said to
start at my own shadow, I began
to go abroad again, and went to my
country house to milk my flock:
but to see with what fear I went
forward, how often I looked behind
me, how I was ready every now and
then to lay down my basket and
run for my life, it would have made
any one have thought I was
haunted with an evil conscience, or
that I had been lately most
terribly frightened; and so, indeed,
I had. However, I went down
thus two or three days, and having
seen nothing, I began to be a
little bolder, and to think there
was really nothing in it but my
own imagination; but I could not
persuade myself fully of this till
I should go down to the shore again,
and see this print of a foot,
and measure it by my own, and see if
there was any similitude or
fitness, that I might be assured it
was my own foot: but when I
came to the place, first, it
appeared evidently to me, that when
I
laid up my boat I could not possibly
be on shore anywhere
thereabouts; secondly, when I came
to measure the mark with my own
foot, I found my foot not so large
by a great deal. Both these
things filled my head with new
imaginations, and gave me the
vapours again to the highest degree,
so that I shook with cold like
one in an ague; and I went home
again, filled with the belief that
some man or men had been on shore
there; or, in short, that the
island was inhabited, and I might be
surprised before I was aware;
and what course to take for my
security I knew not. Oh, what ridiculous resolutions men
take when possessed with fear!
It deprives them of the use of those
means which reason offers for
their relief. The first thing I
proposed to myself was, to throw
down my enclosures, and turn all my
tame cattle wild into the
woods, lest the enemy should find
them, and then frequent the
island in prospect of the same or
the like booty: then the simple
thing of digging up my two
corn-fields, lest they should find
such
a grain there, and still be prompted
to frequent the island: then
to demolish my bower and tent, that
they might not see any vestiges
of habitation, and be prompted to
look farther, in order to find
out the persons inhabiting. These were the subject of the first
night's cogitations after I was
come home again, while the
apprehensions which had so overrun
my
mind were fresh upon me, and my head
was full of vapours. Thus,
fear of danger is ten thousand times
more terrifying than danger
itself, when apparent to the eyes;
and we find the burden of
anxiety greater, by much, than the
evil which we are anxious about:
and what was worse than all this, I
had not that relief in this
trouble that from the resignation I
used to practise I hoped to
have. I looked, I thought, like
Saul, who complained not only that
the Philistines were upon him, but
that God had forsaken him; for I
did not now take due ways to compose
my mind, by crying to God in
my distress, and resting upon His
providence, as I had done before,
for my defence and deliverance;
which, if I had done, I had at
least been more cheerfully supported
under this new surprise, and
perhaps carried through it with more
resolution. This confusion of my thoughts kept
me awake all night; but in the
morning I fell asleep; and having,
by the amusement of my mind,
been as it were tired, and my
spirits exhausted, I slept very
soundly, and waked much better
composed than I had ever been
before. And now I began to think
sedately; and, upon debate with
myself, I concluded that this island
(which was so exceedingly
pleasant, fruitful, and no farther
from the mainland than as I had
seen) was not so entirely abandoned
as I might imagine; that
although there were no stated
inhabitants who lived on the spot,
yet that there might sometimes come
boats off from the shore, who,
either with design, or perhaps never
but when they were driven by
cross winds, might come to this
place; that I had lived there
fifteen years now and had not met
with the least shadow or figure
of any people yet; and that, if at
any time they should be driven
here, it was probable they went away
again as soon as ever they
could, seeing they had never thought
fit to fix here upon any
occasion; that the most I could
suggest any danger from was from
any casual accidental landing of
straggling people from the main,
who, as it was likely, if they were
driven hither, were here
against their wills, so they made no
stay here, but went off again
with all possible speed; seldom
staying one night on shore, lest
they should not have the help of the
tides and daylight back again;
and that, therefore, I had nothing
to do but to consider of some
safe retreat, in case I should see
any savages land upon the spot. Now, I began sorely to repent that I
had dug my cave so large as to
bring a door through again, which
door, as I said, came out beyond
where my fortification joined to the
rock: upon maturely
considering this, therefore, I
resolved to draw me a second
fortification, in the manner of a
semicircle, at a distance from my
wall, just where I had planted a
double row of trees about twelve
years before, of which I made
mention: these trees having been
planted so thick before, they wanted
but few piles to be driven
between them, that they might be
thicker and stronger, and my wall
would be soon finished. So that I
had now a double wall; and my
outer wall was thickened with pieces
of timber, old cables, and
everything I could think of, to make
it strong; having in it seven
little holes, about as big as I
might put my arm out at. In the
inside of this I thickened my wall
to about ten feet thick with
continually bringing earth out of my
cave, and laying it at the
foot of the wall, and walking upon
it; and through the seven holes
I contrived to plant the muskets, of
which I took notice that I had
got seven on shore out of the ship;
these I planted like my cannon,
and fitted them into frames, that
held them like a carriage, so
that I could fire all the seven guns
in two minutes' time; this
wall I was many a weary month in
finishing, and yet never thought
myself safe till it was done. When this was done I stuck all the
ground without my wall, for a
great length every way, as full with
stakes or sticks of the osier-
like wood, which I found so apt to
grow, as they could well stand;
insomuch that I believe I might set
in near twenty thousand of
them, leaving a pretty large space
between them and my wall, that I
might have room to see an enemy, and
they might have no shelter
from the young trees, if they
attempted to approach my outer wall. Thus in two years' time I had a
thick grove; and in five or six
years' time I had a wood before my
dwelling, growing so monstrously
thick and strong that it was indeed
perfectly impassable: and no
men, of what kind soever, could ever
imagine that there was
anything beyond it, much less a
habitation. As for the way which I
proposed to myself to go in and out
(for I left no avenue), it was
by setting two ladders, one to a
part of the rock which was low,
and then broke in, and left room to
place another ladder upon that;
so when the two ladders were taken
down no man living could come
down to me without doing himself
mischief; and if they had come
down, they were still on the outside
of my outer wall. Thus I took all the measures human
prudence could suggest for my
own preservation; and it will be
seen at length that they were not
altogether without just reason;
though I foresaw nothing at that
time more than my mere fear
suggested to me. |
