The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)

So enraged was I at the death of poor Friday, that the guns, which before were charged only with powder, to frighten them, I ordered to be loaded with small shot; nor did the gunners fail in their aim, but at this broadside split and overset thirteen or fourteen of their canoes, which killed numbers of them, and set the rest a swimming, the others, frightened out of their wits, little regarding their fellows drowning, scoured away as fast as they could. One poor wretch our people took up, swimming for his life, an hour after. He was very sullen at first, to that he would neither eat nor speak; but I took a way to cure him, by ordering them to throw him into the sea, which they did, and then he came swimming back like a cork, calling in his tongue, as I suppose, to save him. So we took him on board, but it was a long time before we could make him speak or understand English; yet when we had taught him, he told us, 'they were going with their kings to fight a great battle;' and when we asked him, what made them come up to us? he said, to makee de great wonder look; where it is to be noted, that those natives, and those of Africa, always add to e's at the end of English words, as makee, takee, and the like, from which it is very difficult thing to make them break off.

Being now under sail, we took our last farewell of poor honest Friday, and interred him with all possible decency and solemnity, putting him in a coffin, and committing him to the deep, at the same time cauling eleven guns to be fired at him. Thus ended the life of one of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and affectionate servants, that ever any man was blessed with in the world.

Having now a fair wind for Brazil, in about twelve days time we made land in the latitude of five degrees south of the line. Four days we kept on S. by E. in sight of shore, when we made Cape St. Augustin, and in three days we came up to an anchor off the Bay of all Saints. I had great difficulty here to get leave to hold correspondence on shore; for neither the figure of my partner, my two merchant trustees, nor the fame of my wonderful preservation in the island, could procure me the favour, till such time as the prior of the monastery of the

Augustines (to whom I had given 500 moidores) obtained leave from the Governor, for me personally, with the Captain & one more, together with eight sailors, to come on shore; upon this condition, that we should not land any goods out of the ship, nor carry any person away without licence; I found means, however, to get on shore three bales of English goods, such as fine broad cloths, stuffs, and some linen, which I brought as a present for my partner, who had sent me on board a present of fresh provisions, wine and sweetmeats, worth about thirty moidores, including some tobacco, and three or four fine gold medals.

Here I delivered my partner in goods to the value of 100 £ sterling, and obliged him to fit up the sloop I bought for the use of my island, in order to send them refreshments; and so active was he in this matter, that he had the vessel finished in a few days, to the master of which I gave particular instructions to find the place. I soon loaded him with a small cargo; and one of our sailors offered to settle there, upon my letter to the Spanish governor, if I would allot him tools and a plantation. This I willingly granted, and gave him the savage we had taken prisoner to be his slave. All things being ready for the voyage, my old partner told me there was an acquaintance of his, a Brazil planter, who having fallen under the displeasure of the church, & in fear of the Inquisition which obliged him to be concealed, would be glad of such an opportunity to make his escape, with his wife & two daughters; & if I would allot them a plantation in my island, he would give them a small stock to begin with, for that the officers had already seized his effects and estate, and left him nothing but a little household stuff and two slaves. This request I presently granted, concealing him and his family on board our ship, till such time as the sloop (where all the effects were) was gone out of the bay, and then we put them on board, who carried some materials, and plants for planting sugar-canes, along with them. By this sloop, among other things, I sent my subjects three milch cows and five calves, about 22 hogs, three sows big with pig, two mares and a stone horse. I also engaged three Portugal women to go for sake of the Spaniards, which, with the persecuted man's two daughters, were sufficient, since the rest had wives of their own, though in another country; all which cargo arrived safe, no doubt to their exceeding comfort, who, with this addition, were about sixty or seventy people, besides children.

At this place, my truly honest and pious clergyman left me; for a ship being ready to set sail for Lisbon, he asked me leave to go thither, but I assure you it was with the greatest reluctance I parted from a person, whose virtue and piety merited the greatest esteem.

From the Brazils, we made directly over the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, having a tolerable good voyage, steering for the most part S.E. We were on a trading voyage, and had a supercargo on board, who was to direct all the ship's motions after she arrived at the Cape, only being limited to a certain number of days, for stay, by charter party, at the several ports she was to go to. At the Cape we only took in fresh water, and then sailed for the coast of Coromandel; we were there informed, that a French man of war of 50 guns, and two large merchant ships were sailed for the Indies, but we heard no more of them.

In our passage, we touched at the island of Madagascar, where, though the inhabitants are naturally fierce and treacherous, & go constantly armed with bows & lances, yet for some time they treated us civily enough; and, in exchange for knives, scisors, and other trifles, they brought us eleven good fat bullocks, which we took partly for present victuals, and the remainder to salt for the ship's use.

So curious was I to view every corner of the world where I came to, that I went on shore as often as I could. One evening when on shore, we observed numbers of the people stand gazing at us at a distance. We thought ourselves in no danger, as they had hitherto used us kindly. However, we cut three boughs cut of a tree, sticking them at a distance from us, which it seems, in that country, is not only a token of truce and amity, but when poles or boughs are set up on the other side, it is a sign the truce is accepted. In these treaties, however, there is one principal thing to be regarded, that neither party come beyond one another's three poles or boughs; so that the middle space is not only secure, but is also allowed as a market for traffic and commerce. When the truce is thus accepted, they stick up their javelins and lances at the first poles, and come on unarmed; but if any violence is offered, away they run to their poles, take up their weapons, and then the truce is at an end. This evening it happened that a greater number of people than usual, both men and women, traded among us for such toys as we had, with such great civility, that we made us a little tent, of large boughs of trees, some of the men resolving to lie on shore all night; but, for my part, I and some others took our lodging in the boat, with boughs of trees spread over it, having a sail spread at the bottom to lie upon. About two o'clock in the morning we were awakened by the firing of muskets, and our men crying out for help, or else they would all be murdered. Scarce had we time to get the boat ashore, when our men came plunging themselves into the water, with about four hundred of the islanders at their heels. We took up seven of the men, three of them very much wounded, and one left behind killed, while the enemy poured their arrows so thick among us, that we were forced to make a barricade, with boards lying at the side of the boat, to shield us from danger: and, having got ready our fire-arms, we returned them a volley, which wounded several of them, as we could hear by their cries. In this condition we lay till break of day, and then making signals of distress to the ship, which my nephew the captain heard and understood, he weighed anchor, & stood as near the shore as possible, and then sent another boat with ten hands in her to assist us; but we called to them not to come near, informing them of our unhappy condition. However they ventured; when one of the men taking the end of a tow-line in one hand, and keeping our boat between him and our adversaries, swam to us, and slipping our cables, they towed us, out of reach of their arrows, and quickly after a broadside was given them from the ship, which made a most dreadful havoc among them. When we got on board, we examined into the occasion of this fray. The men who fled informed us that an old woman who sold milk within the poles, had brought a young woman with her, who carried roots or herbs, the sight of whom so much tempted our men, that they offered rudeness to the maid, at which the old woman set up a great cry: nor would the sailors part with the prize, but carried her among the trees, while the old woman went, and brought a whole army down upon them. At the beginning of the attack, one of our men was killed with a lance, and the fellow who began the mischief, paid dear enough for his mistress, though as yet we did not know what had become of him; the rest luckily escaped. The third night after the action, being curious to understand how affairs stood, I took the supercargo and twenty stout fellows with me, and landed about two hours before midnight, at the same place where those Indians stood the night before, and there we divided our men into two bodies, the boatswain commanding one, and I another. It was so dark, that we could see nobody, neither did we hear any voice near us: but by & bye the boatswain falling over a dead body, we agreed to halt till the moon should rise, which he knew would be in an hour after. We perceived here no fewer than two and thirty bodies upon the ground, whereof two were not quite dead. Satisfied with this discovery I was for going on board again; but the boatswain and the rest told me, they would make a visit to the Indian town, where these dogs (so they called them) resided, asking me at the same time to go along with them; for they did not doubt, besides getting a good booty, but they should find Tom Jeffery there, for that was the unhappy man we missed. But I utterly refused to go, and commanded them back, being unwilling to hazard their lives, as the safety of the ship wholly depended upon them. Notwithstanding all I could say to them, they all left me but one, and the supercargo; so we three returned to the boat, where a boy was left, resolving to stay till they returned. At parting I told them I supposed most of them would run the same fate with Tom Jeffery. To this they replied, Come boys, come along, we'll warrant we'll come off safe enough; and so away they went, notwithstanding all my admonitions, either concerning their own safety or the preservation of the ship. Indeed they were gallantly armed, every man having a musket, bayonet, and a pistol, besides cutlasses, hangers, pole-axes, and hand granades. They came to a few Indian houses at first, which not being the town they expected they went farther, & finding a cow tied to a tree, they concluded that she would be a sufficient guide, and so it proved; for, after they untied her, she led them directly to the town, which consisted of above two hundred houses, several families living in some of the huts together. At their arrival, all being in a profound sleep, the sailors agreed to divide themselves into three bodies, and set three parts of the town on fire at once, to kill those that were escaping, and plunder the rest of the houses. Thus desperately resolved, they went to work; but the first party had not gone far, before they called out to the rest, that they had found Tom Jeffery; whereupon they all ran up to the place, and found the poor fellow indeed hanging up naked by one arm, and his throat almost cut from ear to ear. In a house that was hard by the tree, they found sixteen or seventeen Indians, who had been concerned in the fray, two or three of them being wounded, were not gone to sleep: this house they set on fire first, and in a few minutes after, five or six places more in the town appeared in flames. The conflagration spread like wild-fire, their housing being all of wood, and covered with flags or rushes. The poor affrighted inhabitants endeavoured to run out to save their lives, but they were driven back into the flames by the sailors, and killed without mercy. At the first house above mentioned, after the boatswain had slain two with his pole-ax, he threw a hand-granade into the house, which bursting, made a terrible havoc, killing and wounding most of them; and their king and most of his train, who were then in that house, fell victims to their fury, every creature of them being either smothered or burnt. All this while they never fired a gun, lest the people should awaken faster than they could overpower them. But the fire awakened them fast enough, which obliged our fellows to keep together in bodies. By this time the whole town was in a flame, yet their fury rather increased, calling out to one another to remember Tom Jeffery. The terrible light of this conflagration made me very uneasy, and roused my nephew the captain, and the rest of his men, who knew nothing of the matter. When he perceived the dreadful smoke, and heard the guns go off, he readily concluded his men were in danger; he therefore takes another boat, and comes ashore himself, with thirteen men well armed. He was greatly surprised to see me and only two men in the boat, but more so when I told him the story: but though I argued with him, as I did with the men, about the danger of the voyage, the interests of the merchants and owners, and the safety of the ship, yet my nephew, like the rest, declared, that he would rather lose the ship, his voyage, his life and all, than his men should be lost for want of help; and so away he went. For my part, seeing him resolved to go, I had not power to stay behind. He ordered the pinnace back again for twelve men more, and then we marched directly as the flame guided us. But surely never was such a scene of horror beheld, or more dismal cries heard, except when Oliver Cromwell took Drogheda in Ireland, where he neither spared man, woman, nor child.

The first object, I think, we met with, was the ruins of one of their habitations, before which lay four men and three woman killed, and two more burnt to death among the fire, which was now decaying. Nothing could appear more barbarous than this revenge; none more cruel than the authors of it. As we went on, the fire increased, and the cry proceeded in proportion. We had not gone much farther, when we beheld three naked women, followed by sixteen or seventeen men, flying with the greatest swiftness from our men, who shot one of them in our sight. When they perceived us, whom they supposed also their murderers, they set up a most dreadful shriek, and both of them swooned away in the fright. This was a sight which might have softened the hardest heart; and in pity we took some ways to let them know we would not hurt them, while the poor creatures with bended knees, and lifted up hands, made piteous lamentations to us to save their lives. I ordered our men not to hunt any of the poor creatures whatsoever; but being willing to understand the occasion of all this, I went among these unhappy wretches, who neither understood me, nor the good I meant them. However being resolved to put an end to this barbarity, I ordered the men to follow me. We had not gone fifty yards before we came up with the boatswain, with four of our men at his heels, all of them covered with blood and dust, and in search of more people to satiate their vengeance. As soon as we saw them, we called out, and made them understand who we were; upon which they came up to us, setting up a holloo of triumph, in token that more help was come. Noble Captain, said he to my nephew, I'm glad your come: we have not half done with these villainous hell-hound dogs; wee'll root out the very nation of them from the earth, and kill more than poor Tom has hairs upon his head: and thus he went on till I interrupted him. – "Blood-thirsty dog," said I, "will your cruelty never end? I charge you touch not one creature more; stop your hands and stand still, or you're a dead man this moment." Why Sir, said he, you neither know whom you are protecting, nor what they have done: but pray come hither, and behold an instance of compassion, if such can merit your clemency; and with that he shewed me the poor fellow with his throat cut, hanging upon the tree.

Indeed, here was enough to fill their breasts with rage, which, however, I thought had gone too far, agreeable to these words of Jacob to his sons Simeon and Levi: Cursed be their anger for it was fierce; and their wrath; for it was cruel. But this sight made my nephew and the rest as bad as they: nay, my nephew declared, his concern was only for his men; as for the people, not a soul of them ought to live. Upon this, the boatswain and eight more directly turned about, and went to finish the intended tragedy; which being out of my power to prevent, I returned back from the dismal sight, & the piteous cries of those unfortunate creatures, who were made victims to their fury. Indeed, it was an egregious piece of folly in me to return to the boat with but one attendant; and I had very near paid for it, having narrowly escaped forty armed Indians, who had been alarmed by the conflagration; but having passed the place where they stood, I got to the boat accompanied with the supercargo, and so went on board, sending the pinnace back again, to assist the men in what might happen. When I had got to the boat, the fire was almost extinguished, and the noise abated; but I had scarce been half an hour on board the ship, when I heard another volley given by our sailors, and a great smoke, which, as I afterwards found, was our men falling upon those houses and persons that stood between them and the sea; but here they spared the wives and children, and killed only the men, to the number of about sixteen or seventeen. By the time they got to the shore, the pinnace and the ship's boat were ready to receive them, and they all got safe on board, not a man of them having received the least hurt, except two, one of whom strained his foot, and the other burnt his hand a little; for they met with no resistance, the poor Indians being unprepared, amazed, and confounded.

I was extremely angry with every one of them, but particularly with the captain, who instead of cooling the rage of the men, had prompted them on to further mischief: nor could he make me any other excuse, but that as he was a man, he could not master his passions at the sight of one of his men so cruelly murdered. As for the rest, knowing they were not under my command, they took no notice of any anger, but rather boasted of their revenge. According to all their accounts, they killed or destroyed about 150 men, women, and children, besides burning the town to ashes. They took their companion Tom Jeffery from the tree, covered him with some of the ruins, and so left him. But however this action of our men might seem to them justifiable, yet I always openly condemned it with the appellation, of the Massacre of Madagascar. For tho' the natives had slain this Jeffery, yet certainly he was the first aggressor, by attempting to violate the chastity of a young innocent woman, who ventured down to them, on the faith of the public capitulation, which was so treacherously broken.

While we were under sail, the boatswain would often defend this bloody action, by saying, that the Indians had broke the truce the night before, by shooting one of our men without just provocation: and what if the poor fellow had taken a little liberty with the wench, he ought not to have been murdered in so villainous a manner: and that they had acted nothing but what the divine laws commissioned to be done to such homicides. However I was in the same mind as before, telling them that they were murderers, and bid them depend upon it that God would blast their voyage, for such an unparalleled piece of barbarity.

When we came to the Gulph of Persia, five of our men, who ventured on shore, were either killed or made slaves by the Arabians, the rest of them having scarce time to escape to their boat. This made me upbraid them afresh with the just retribution of Heaven for such actions; upon which the boatswain very warmly asked me, Whether those men on whom the tower of Siloam fell, were greater sinners than the rest of the Galileans? and besides, Sir, said he, none of these five poor men that are lost, were with us at the Massacre of Madagascar, as you call it, and therefore your representation is very unjust, and your application improper. Besides, added he, you are continually using the men very ill upon this account, and, being but a passenger yourself, we are not obliged to bear it; nor can we tell what evil designs you may have to bring us to judgment for it in England: and, therefore, if you do not leave this discourse, as also not concern yourself with any of our affairs, I will leave the ship, and not sail among such dangerous company.

All this I heard very patiently; but, it being often repeated, I at length told him, the concern I had on board was none of his business; that I was a considerable owner in the ship, and therefore had a right to speak in common, and that I was no way accountable to him, nor to any body else. As no more passed for some time after, I thought all had been over. At this time we were in the road of Bengal, where, going on shore with the supercargo one day, in the evening, as I was preparing to go on board, one of the men came to me, and told me, I need not trouble myself to come to the boat, for that the cockswain and others had ordered him not to carry me on board any more. This insulent message much surprised me; yet I gave him no answer to it, but went directly and acquainted the supercargo, entreating him to go on board, and, by acquainting the Captain with it, prevent the mutiny which I perceived would happen. But before I had spoken this, the matter was effected on board; for no sooner was he gone off in the boat, but the boatswain, gunner, carpenter, and all the inferior officers, came to the quarter-deck, desiring to speak with the Captain; & there the boatswain made a long harangue, exclaiming against me, as before mentioned, that, if I had not gone on shore peaceably, for my own diversion, they, by violence would have compelled me, for their satisfaction: that as they had shipped with the Captain, so they would faithfully serve him; but if I did not quit the ship, or the Captain oblige me to it, they would leave the ship immediately: hereupon, turning his face about by way of signal, they all cried out, "ONE and ALL! ONE and ALL!"

You may be sure, that though my nephew was a man of great courage, yet he could not but be surprised at their sudden and unexpected behaviour; and though he talked stoutly to them, and afterwards expostulated with them, that in common justice to me, who was a considerable owner in the ship, they could not turn me as it were out of mine own house, which might bring their lives in danger should they ever be taken in England; nay, though he invited the boatswain on shore to accomodate matters with me, yet all this I say, signified nothing; they would have nothing to do with me; and they were resolved to go on shore if I came on board. Well, said my nephew, if you are so resolved, permit me to talk with him, and then I have done; and so he came to me, giving me an account of their resolution, how one and all designed to forsake the ship when I came on board, for which he was mightily concerned. "I am glad to see you, nephew," said I, "and rejoice it is no worse, since they have not rebelled against you; I only desire you to send my necessary things on shore, with a sufficient sum of money, and I will find my way to England as well as I can." Though this grieved my nephew to the heart, yet there was no remedy but complience; in short, all my necessaries were sent me, and so this matter was over in a few hours.

I think I was now near a thousand leagues farther off England by sea, than at my little kingdom, except this difference, that I might travel by land over the Great Mogul's country to Surat, from thence to Baffora, by sea up the Persian Gulph, then take the way of the caravans over the Arabian desert to Alleppo and Scanderoon, there take shipping to Italy, and so travel by land into France, and from thence cross the sea to England.

My nephew left me two persons to attend me; one of them was his servant, and the other clerk to the purser, who engaged to be mine. I took lodging in an English woman's house, where several French, one English, and two Italian merchants resided. The handsome entertainment I met with here, occasioned me to stay nine months, considering what course I should take. Some English goods I had with me of great value, besides a thousand pieces of eight, and a letter for more, if there was such necessity. The goods I soon disposed of to advantage, and bought here several good diamonds, which I could easily carry about with me. One morning the English merchant came to me, as being very intimate together, countryman, said he, I have a project to communicate to you, which I hope will suit to both our advantage. To be short, Sir, we are both in a remote part of the world from our country; but yet in a place where men of business may get a great deal of money. Now, if you will put a thousand pounds to my thousand pounds, we will hire a ship to our satisfaction; you shall be Captain, I will be merchant: and we'll go a trading voyage to China, for why should we lie still like drones, while the whole world is in a continual motion.

This proposal soon got my consent, being very agreeable to my rambling genius; and the more so, because I looked upon my countryman to be a very sincere person; it required some time before we could get a vessel to our mind, and sailors to man it accordingly; at length we bought a ship, and got an English mate, boatswain, and gunner, a Dutch carpenter, and three Portuguese foremast men; and, for want of others, made shift with Indian seamen. We first sailed to Achin, in the island of Sumatra, and then to Siam, where we bartered our wares for some arrack and opium, the last of which bore a great price among the Chinese; in a word, we went up to Suskan, making a very great voyage; &, after eight months time, I returned to Bengal, very well satisfied with this adventure, having not only got a sufficient quantity of money, but an insight of getting a great deal more.

The next voyage my friend proposed to me, was to go among the spice islands, and bring home a load of cloves from the Manillas, or thereabouts; islands belonging partly to Spain, but where the Dutch trade very considerably. We were not long in preparing for this voyage, which we made no less successful than the last, touching at Borneo, and several other places which I do not perfectly remember, and returning home in about five months time. We soon sold our spices, which were chiefly cloves and some nutmegs, to the Persian merchants, who carried them away to the gulph; and, in short, making five to one advantage, we were loaded with money.

Not long after my friend and I had made up our accounts, to our entire satisfaction, there came in a Dutch coaster from Batavia of about two hundred tons. The crew of this vessel pretended themselves so sickly, that there were not hands sufficient to undertake a voyage; and the Captain having given out that he intended to go to Europe, public notice was given that the ship was to be sold. No sooner did this come to our ears, but we bought the ship, paid the master, and took possession. We would also have very willingly entertained some of the men; but they having received their share of booty, were not to be found, being altogether fled to Agra, the great city of the Mogul's residence; and from thence went to travel to Surat, and so by the sea to the Persian Gulph. And indeed they had reason to fly in this manner; for the truth of it was the pretended Captain was the gunner only, and not the commander; that having been on a trading voyage, they were attacked on shore by the Malayans, who killed three men and the Captain; after whose death the other eleven men ran away with the ship to the Bay of Bengal, and left the mate and five men more on shore: but of this affair we shall have occasion to speak more at length hereafter.

However they came by the ship, we thought we bought it honestly; neither did we suspect any thing of the matter, when the man showed us a bill of sale for the ship (undoubtedly forged) to one Emanuel Clostershoven, which name he went by. And so without any more to do, we picked up some Dutch and English seamen, resolving for another voyage for cloves among the Phillippine and Molucca Islands: in short, we continued thus five or six years, trading from port to port with extraordinary success. In the seventh year, we undertook a voyage to China, designing to touch at Siam, and buy some rice by the way. In this voyage, contrary winds beat us up and down for a considerable time among the islands in the Straits of Molucca. No sooner were we clear of those rugged seas, but we perceived our ship had sprung a leak, which obliged us to put into the river Cambodia, which lies northward of the Gulph, and goes up to Siam.

One day, as I was on shore refreshing myself, there comes to me an Englishman, who was gunner's mate on board an English East India ship, riding up the river near the city of Cambodia. Sir, said he, you may wonder at my business, having never seen me in your life; but tho' I am a stranger, I have something to tell you that very nearly concerns you: & indeed it is the imminent danger you are in has moved me to give you this timely notice. "Danger!" said I, "what danger? I know of none, except my ship being leaky, for which I design to have her run aground to-morrow morning" I hope you will be better employed when you shall hear what I have to say to you. You know the town of Cambodia is about fifteen leagues up this river; about three leagues on this side of it, there lie two Dutch and three English ships. And would you venture here without considering what strength you have to engage them? I knew not what he meant by this discourse, and turning short upon him, "Sir," said I, "I know no reason I have to be afraid either of any Dutch or English ships. I am no interloper, and what business have they with me?" Well, Sir, said the man, if you do think yourselves secure, all as I can say, you must take your chance; however, I am very sorry you are so deaf to good advice; but I assure you; if you do not put to sea immediately, you will be attacked by five long-boats full of men, hanged yourself for a pirate, if you are taken, and the particulars examined afterwards. I thought, Sir, added he, I might have met a better reception for such a singular piece of service. "Sir," said I, "I was never ungrateful to any man; but pray explain yourself and I'll go on board this minute, whether the leak be stopped or no." Why, Sir, said he, to be short, because time is precious, the matter is this: You know well enough that you was with the ship at Sumatra, when your Captain was murdered by the Malayans, with three of his sailors; and that either you, or some who were on board you, ran away with the ship, and are since turned pirates at sea. Now, Sir, this is the sum of what I had to say: and I can positively assure you, that if you are taken, you will be executed without much ceremony, for undoubtedly you cannot but be sensible what little law merchant ships show to pirates, whenever they fall into their hands.