ingenuity of the Indians, who assisted them, that when I viewed the
Englishmen's colonies, they seemed at a distance as though they had
lived like bees in a hive: for Will Atkins, who was now become a very
industrious and sober man, had made himself a tent of basket-work round
the outside; the walls were worked in as a basket, in pannels or strong
squares of thirty-two in number, standing about seven feet high: in the
middle was another, not above twenty-two paces round, but much stronger
built, being of an octagonal form, and in the eight corners stood eight
strong poles, round the top of which he raised a pyramid for the roof,
mighty pretty, I assure you, and joined very well together, with iron
spikes, which he made himself; for he had made him a forge, with a pair
of wooden bellows and charcoal for his work, forming an anvil cut of one
of the iron crows, to work upon, and in the manner would he make himself
hooks, staples, spikes, bolts, and hinges. After he had pitched the roof
of his innermost tent, he made it so firm between the rafters with
basket-work, thatching that over again with rice-straw, and over that a
large leaf of a tree, that his house was as dry as if it had been tiled
or slated. The outer circuit was covered as a lean-to, quite round this
inner appartment, laying long rafters from the thirty-two angles to the
top posts of the inner house, about twenty-feet distant, so that there
was a space like a wall between the outer and inner wall, near twenty
feet in breadth. The inner place he partitioned off with the same
wicker-work, dividing it into six neat apartments every one of which had
a door, first into the entry of the main tent, and another into the
space and walk that was round it, not only convenient for retreat, but
for family necessaries. Within the door of the outer circle, there was
a passage directly to the door of the inner house; on either side was a
wicker partition, and a door, by which you go into a room twenty-two
feet wide, and about thirty long, and through that into another of a
smaller length; so that in the outer circle were ten handsome rooms, six
of which were only to be come at through the apartments of the inner
tent, serving as retiring rooms to the respective chambers of the inner
circle, and four large warehouses, which went in through one another,
two on either hand of the passage that led through the outer door to the
inner tent. In short, nothing could be built more ingeniously, kept more
neat, or have better conveniences; and here lived the three families,
Will Atkins, his companion, their wives and children, and the widow of
the deceased. As to religion, the men seldom taught their wives the
knowledge of God, any more than the sailors' custom of swearing by his
name. The greatest improvement their wives had, was, they taught them to
speak English, so as to be understood.
None of their children were then above six years old; they were all
fruitful enough; and I think the cook's mate's wife was big of her
sixth child.
When I inquired of the Spaniards about their circumstances while among
the savages, they told me, _that they abandoned themselves to despair,
reckoning themselves a poor and miserable people, that had no means put
into their hands, and consequently must soon be starved to death._ They
owned, however, that they were in the wrong to think so, and for
refusing the assistance that reason offered for their support, as well
as future deliverance, confessing that grief was a most insignificant
passion, as it looked upon things as without remedy, and having no hope
of things to come; all which verified this noted proverb,
_In trouble to be troubled,
Is to have your trouble doubled._
Nor did his remarks end here, for, making observations upon my
improvement, and on my condition at first, infinitely worse than theirs,
he told me that Englishmen had, in their distress, greater presence of
mind than those of any other country that he had met with; and that they
and the Portuguese were the worst men in the world to struggle under
misfortunes. When they landed among the savages, they found but little
provision except they would turn cannibals, there being but a few roots
and herbs, with little substance in them, and of which the natives gave
them but very sparingly. Many were the ways they took to civilize and
teach the savages, but in vain; for they would not own them to be their
instructors, whose lives were owing to their bounty. Their extremities
were very great and many days being entirely without food, the savages
there being more indolent and less devouring than those who had better
supplies. When they went out to battle they were obliged to assist these
people, in one of which my faithful Spaniard being taken, had like to
have been devoured. They had lost their ammunition, which rendered their
fire-arms useless; nor could they use the bows and arrows that were
given them, so that while the armies were at a distance, they had no
chance but when close, then they could be of service with halberts, &
sharpened sticks put into the muzzles of their muskets. They made
themselves targets of wood covered with the skins of wild beasts; and
when one happened to be knocked down, the rest of the company fought
over him till he recovered; and then standing close in a line, they
would make their way through a thousand savages. At the return of their
friend, who they thought had been entombed in the bowels of their
enemies, their joy was inconceivable. Nor were they less surprised at
the sight of the loaves of bread I had sent them, things that they had
not seen for several years, at the same time crossing and blessing it,
as though it was manna sent from Heaven: but when they knew the errand,
and perceived the boat which was to carry them back to the person and
place from whence such relief came, this struck them with such a
surprise of joy as made some of them faint away, and others burst out
into tears.
This was the summary account that I had from them. I shall now inform
the reader what I next did for them, and in what condition I left them.
As we were all of opinion that the savages would scarce trouble them any
more, so we had no apprehensions on the score. I told them I was come
purely to establish, and not to remove them; and upon that occasion, had
not only brought them necessaries for convenience and defence, but also
artificers, and other persons, both for their necessary employments, and
to add to their number. They were altogether when I thus talked to them;
and before I delivered to them the stores I brought, I asked them, one
by one, if they had entirely forgot their first animosities, would
engage in the strictest friendship; and shake hands with one another? On
this Will Atkins, with abundance of good humour, said, _they had
afflictions enough to make them all sober, and enemies enough to make
them all friends: as for himself, he would live and die among them,
owning that what the Spaniards had done to him, his own mad humour had
made necessary for them to do_. Nor had the Spaniards occasion to
justify their proceeding to me; but they told me, _that since Will
Atkins had behaved himself so valiantly in fight, and at other times
showed such a regard to the common interest of them all, they had not
only forgotten all that was past, but thought he ought as much to be
trusted with arms and necessaries as any of them, which they testified
by making him next in command to the governor: and they most heartily
embraced the occasion of giving me this solemn assurance, that they
would never separate their interest again, as long as they lived_.
After these kind declarations of friendship, we appointed all of us to
dine together the next day; upon this I caused the ship's cook and his
mate to come on shore for that purpose, to assist in dressing our
dinner. We brought from the ship six pieces of beef, and four of pork,
together with our punch bowl, and materials to fill it; and in
particular I gave them ten bottles of French claret, and ten of English
beer, which was very acceptable to them. The Spaniards added to our
feast, five whose kids, which being roasted, three of them were sent as
fresh meat to the sailors on board, and the other two we ate ourselves.
After our merry and innocent feast was over, I began to distribute my
cargo among them. First, I gave them linen sufficient to make every one
four shirts, and at the Spaniard's request made them up six. The thin
English stuffs I allotted to make every one a light coat like a frock,
agreeable to the climate, and left them such a quantity as to make more
upon their decay; as also pumps, shoes, hats, and stockings. It is not
to be expressed the pleasing satisfaction which sat upon the
countenances of these poor men, when they perceived what care I took of
them, as if I had been a common father to them all; and they all engaged
never to leave the island, till I gave my consent for their departure. I
then presented to them the people I brought, viz. the tailor, smith, and
the two carpenters; but my Jack-of-all-trades was the most acceptable
present I could make them. My tailor fell immediately to work, and made
every one of them a shirt; after which, he learned the women how to sew
and stitch, thereby to become the more helpful to their husbands.
Neither were the carpenters less useful, taking in pieces their clumsy
things; instead of which they made convenient and handsome tables,
stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers, and shelves. But when I carried
them to see Will Atkins's basket-house, they owned they never saw such a
piece of natural ingenuity before: _I am sure,_ said one of the
carpenters, _the man that built this has no need of us; you need, Sir,
do nothing but give him tools._
I divided the tools among them in this manner: to every man I gave a
digging spade, a shovel, and a rake, as having no harrows or ploughs;
and to every separate place a pickax, a crow, a broad ax, and a saw,
with a store for a general supply, should any be broken or worn out. I
left them also nails, staples, hinges, hammers, chisels, knives,
scissors, and all sorts of tools and iron work; & for the use of the
smith, gave them three tons of unwrought iron, for a supply; and as to
arms and ammunition, I stored them even to profusion; or at least to
equip a sufficient little army against all opposers whatsoever.
The young man (whose mother was unfortunately starved to death) together
with the maid, a pious and well educated young woman, seeing things so
well ordered on shore (for I made them accompany me) and considering
they had no occasion to go so far a voyage as to the East Indies, they
both desired of me, that I would leave them there, and enter them among
my subjects. This I readily agreed to, ordering them a plat of ground,
on which were three little houses erected, environed with basket-work,
pallisadoed like Atkins's and adjoining to his plantation. So contrived
were their tents that each of them had a room apart to lodge in, while
the middle tent was not only their store-house, but their place for
eating and drinking. At this time the two Englishmen removed their
habitation to their former place; in that now the island was divided
into three colonies: first, Those I have just now mentioned; secondly
That of Will Atkins, where there were four families of Englishmen, with
their wives and children, the widow and her children; the young man and
the maid, who, by the way, we made a wife of before our departure; three
savages, who were slaves; the tailor, smith, (who served also as a
gunsmith) and my other celebrated person called Jack-of-all-trades.
Thirdly, my chief colony, which consisted of the Spaniards, with Old
Friday, who still remained at my old habitation, which was my capital
city, and surely never was there such a metropolis, it now being hid in
so obscure a grove, that a thousand men might have ranged the island a
month, and looked purposely for it, without being able to find it,
though the Spaniards had enlarged its boundaries, both without and
within, in a most surprising manner.
But now I think it high time to speak of the young French priest of the
order of St. Benedict, whose judicious and pious discourses, upon sundry
occasions, merit an extraordinary observation; nor can his being a
French Papist priest, I presume, give offence to any of my readers, when
they have this assurance from me, that he was a person of the most
courteous disposition, extensive charity, and exalted piety. His
arguments were always agreeable to reason, and his conversation the most
acceptable of any person that I had ever yet met with in my life.
_Sir,_ said he, to me, one day, _since, under God,_ at the same time
crossing his breast, _you have not only saved my life; but, by
permitting me to go this voyage, have granted me the happiness of free
conversation, I think is my duty as my profession obliges me, to save
what souls I can, by bringing them to the knowledge of some Catholic
doctrine, necessary to salvation; and since these people are under your
immediate government, in gratitude, justice, and decency, for what you
have done for me, I shall offer no farther points in religion, that what
shall merit your approbation_. Being a-pleased with the modesty of his
carriage, I told him he should not be worse used for being of a
different persuasion, if upon that very account, we did not differ in
points of faith, not decent in a part of the country where the poor
Indians ought to be instructed in the knowledge of the true God, and his
Son Jesus Christ. To this he replied, that conversation might easily be
separated from disputes; that he would discourse with me rather as a
gentleman than a religious: but that, if we did enter upon religious
argument, upon my desiring the same, I would give him liberty to defend
his own principles. He farther added, that he would do all that became
him in his office, as a priest as well as a Christian, to procure the
happiness of all that were in the ship: that though he could not pray
with, he would pray for us on all occasions; and then he told me several
extraordinary events of his life, within a few years past; but
particularly in this last, which was the most remarkable: that, in this
voyage, he had the misfortune to be five times shipped and unshipped:
his first design was to have gone to Martinico; for which, taking ship
at St. Malos, he was forced into Lisbon by bad weather, the vessel
running aground in the mouth of the Tagus; that from thence he went on
board a Portuguese ship, bound to the Madeiras, whose master being but
an indifferent mariner, and out of his reckoning, they were drove to
Fial, where selling their commodity, which was corn, they resolved to
take in their loading at the Isle of May, and to sail to Newfoundland;
at the banks of which, meeting a French ship bound to Quebec, in the
river of Canada, and from thence to Martinico, in this ship he embarked;
the master of which dying at Quebec, that voyage was suspended; and
lastly, shipping himself for France, this last ship was destroyed by
fire, as before has been related.
At this time we talked no further; but another morning he comes to me,
just as I was going to visit the Englishman's colony, and tells me, that
as he knew; the prosperity of the island, was my principal desire, he
had something to communicate agreeable to my design, by which perhaps he
might put it, more than he yet thought it was, in the way of the
benediction of heaven. _How, Sir,_ said I, in a surprise, _are we not
yet in the way of God's blessings, after all these signal providences
and deliverances, of which you have had such an ample relation?_ He
replied, _Nope, Sir, you are in the way, and that your good design will
prosper: but still there are some among you that are not equally right
in their actions; and remember, I beseech you, Sir, that Achan, by his
crime, removed God's blessing from the camp of the children of Israel;
that though six and thirty were entirely innocent, yet they became the
object of divine vengeance, and bore the weight of his punishment
accordingly._
So sensibly was I touched with this discourse, and so satisfied with
that ardent piety that inflamed his soul, that I desired him to
accompany me to the Englishman's plantations, which he was very glad of,
by reason they were the subject of what he designed to discourse with me
about: and while we walked on together, he began in the
following manner:
"Sir, said he, I must confess it as a great unhappiness that we disagree
in several doctrinal articles of religion; but surely both of us
acknowledge this, that there is a God, who having given us some stated
rules for our service and obedience, we ought not willingly and
knowingly to offend him; either by neglecting what he has commanded, or
by doing what he has forbidden. This truth every Christian owns, that
when any one presumptuously sins against God's command, the Almighty
then withdraws his blessing from him; every good man therefore ought
certainly to prevent such neglect of, or sin against, God and his
commands." I thanked the young priest for expressing so great a concern
for us, and desired him to explain the particulars of what he had
observed, that according to the parable of Achan, I _might remove the
accursed thing from among us_ "Why then, Sir, said he, in the first
place, you have four Englishmen, who have taken savage women to their
wives, by whom they have several children, though none of them are
legally married, as the law of God and man requires; they, I say, Sir,
are no less than adulterers, and as they still live in adultery, are
liable to the curse of God. I know, Sir, you may object the want of a
priest or clergyman of any kind; as also, pen, ink and paper, to write
down a contract of marriage, and have it signed between them. But
neither this, nor what the Spanish governor has told you of their
choosing by consent, can be reckoned a marriage, nor any more than an
agreement to keep them from quarrelling among themselves; for, Sir, the
essence or sacrament of matrimony (so he called it) not only consists in
mutual consent, but in the legal obligation, which compels them to own
and acknowledge one another, to abstain from other persons, the men to
provide for their wives and children, and the woman to the same and like
conditions, _nutatis mutandis,_ on their side: whereas, Sir, these men,
upon their own pleasure, on any occasion, may forsake those women and
marry others, and by disowning their children, suffer them utterly to
perish. Now, Sir, 'added he, 'can God be honoured in such an unlawful
liberty as this; how can a blessing succeed to the best endeavours, if
men are allowed to live in so licentious a way?" I was indeed struck
with the thing myself, and thought that they were much to blame, that no
formal contract had been made, though it had been but breaking a stick
between them, to engage them to live as man and wife, never to separate,
but love, cherish, and comfort one another all their lives; _yet Sir,_
said I, _when they took these wommen, I was not here, and if it is
adultery, it is past my remedy, and I cannot help it_. "True, Sir,'
answered the young priest, you cannot be charged with that part of the
crime which was done in your absence: but I beseech you, don't flatter
yourself, that you are under no obligation now to put a period to it:
which if you neglect to do, the guilt will be entirely on you alone,
since it is certainly in nobody's power but yours, to alter their
condition." I must confess, I was so dull, that I thought he meant, I
should part them, and knowing that this would put the whole island in
confusion, I told him, I could not consent to it upon any account
whatsoever. "Sir,' said he, in a great surprise, 'I do not mean that you
should separate, but marry them, by a written contract, signed by both
man and woman, and by all the witnesses present, which all the European
laws decree to be of sufficient efficacy." Amazed with such true piety
and sincerity, and considering the validity of a written contract, I
acknowledged all that he said to be very just and kind, and that I would
discourse with the man about it; neither could I see what reason they
could have not to let him marry them, whose authority in that affair is
owned to be as authentic as if they were married by any of our clergymen
in England.
The next complaint he had to make to me was this, that though these
English subjects of mine have lived with these women seven years, and
though they were of good understanding, and capable of instruction,
having learned not only to speak, but to read English, yet all this
while they had never taught them any thing of the Christian religion, or
the knowledge of God, much less in what manner he ought to be served.
"And is not this an unaccountable neglect:' said he warmly. 'Depend upon
it, God Almighty will call them to account for such contempt. And though
I am not of your religion, yet I should be glad to see these people
released from the devil's power, and be saved by the principles of the
Christian religion, the knowledge of God, of a Redeemer, the
resurrection, and of a future state. But as it is not too late, if you
please to give me leave to instruct them, I doubt not but I shall supply
this great defect, by bringing them into the great circle of
Christianity, even while you continue in the island."
I could hold no longer, but embracing him, told him, with a thousand
thanks, I would grant whatever he requested, and desired him to proceed
in the third article, which he did in the following manner;
"Sir,' said he, 'it should be a maxim among all Christians, that
Christian knowledge ought to be propagated by all possible means, and on
all occasion. Upon this account our church sends missionaries into
Persia, India, and China, men who are willing to die for the sake of God
& the Christian faith, in order to bring poor infidels into the way of
salvation. Now, Sir, as here is an opportunity to convert seven & thirty
poor savages, I wonder how you can pass by such an occasion of doing
good, which is really worth the expence of a man's whole life."
I must confess I was so confounded at this discourse, that I could not
tell how to answer him. "Sir,' said he, feeling me in disorder, 'I shall
be very sorry if I have given you offence." _No Sir,_ said I, _I am
rather confounded; and you know my circumstances, that being bound to
the East Indies in a merchant ship, I cannot wrong the owners so much,
as to detain the ship here, the men lying at victuals and savages on
their account. If I stay aboard several days, I must pay 3l. sterling_
per diem _demurage, nor must the ship stop above eight days more; so
that I am unable to engage in this work, unless I would leave the ship,
and be reduced to my former condition._ The priest, though he owned this
was hard upon me, yet laid it to my conscience, whether the blessing of
saving seven and thirty souls was not worth venturing all that I had in
the world? _Sir,_ said I, _it is very true; but as you are an
ecclesiastic, it naturally falls into your profession: why, therefore,
don't you rather offer to undertake it yourself than press me to it?_
upon this he turned about, making a very low bow, "I most humbly thank
God and you, Sir, (said he) for so blessed a call; and most willingly
undertake so glorious an office, which will sufficiently compensate all
the hazards and difficulties I have gone through in a long and
uncomfortable voyage."
While he was thus speaking, I could discover a rapture in his face, by
his colour going and coming; at the same time his eyes sparkled like
fire, and all the signs of the most zealous transports. And when I asked
whether he was in earnest? _Sir,_ said he, _it was to preach to the
Indians I consented to come along with you; these infidels, even in this
little island, are infinitely of more worth than my poor life: if so
that I should prove the happy instrument of saving these poor creatures'
souls, I care not if I never see my native country again. One thing I
only beg of you more is, that you would leave Friday with me, to be my
interpreter, without whose assistance neither of us will understand
each other._
This request very sensibly troubled me; first, upon Friday's being bred
a Protestant; and secondly, for the affection I bore to him for his
fidelity: But, immediately the remembrance of Friday's father coming
into my head, I recommended him to him as having learned Spanish, which
the priest also understood; and so was thoroughly satisfied with him.