_Robinson Carries all His Riches, Provisions, etc., into His
Habitation--Dreariness of Solitude--Consolatory Reflections_
Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labor, I carried all my
riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have
the account above; and I made me a large tent, which, to preserve me
from the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I
made double, viz., one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above
it, and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which I had saved
among the sails. And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I
had brought on shore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a very good
one, and belonged to the mate of the ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would
spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up the
entrance, which, till now, I had left open, and so passed and repassed,
as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock; and
bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent,
I laid them up within my fence in the nature of a terrace, so that it
raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a
cave just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house.
It cost me much labor, and many days, before all these things were
brought to perfection, and therefore I must go back to some other
things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time it happened,
after I had laid my scheme for the setting up my tent, and making the
cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick dark cloud, a sudden
flash of lightning happened, and after that a great clap of thunder,
as is naturally the effect of it. I was not so much surprised with the
lightning, as I was with a thought which darted into my mind as swift
as the lightning itself. O my powder! My very heart sunk within me
when I thought, that at one blast all my powder might be destroyed, on
which, not my defence only, but the providing me food, as I thought,
entirely depended. I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger;
though had the powder took fire, I had never known who had hurt me.
Such impression did this make upon me, that after the storm was over
I laid aside all my works, my building, and fortifying, and applied
myself to make bags and boxes to separate the powder, and keep it a
little and a little in a parcel, in hope that whatever might come
it might not all take fire at once, and to keep it so apart, that
it should not be possible to make one part fire another. I finished
this work in about a fortnight; and I think my powder, which in all
was about 240 pounds weight, was divided in not less than a hundred
parcels. As to the barrel that had been wet, I did not apprehend any
danger from that, so I placed it in my new cave, which in my fancy I
called my kitchen, and the rest I hid up and down in holes among the
rocks, so that no wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I
laid it.
In the interval of time while this was doing, I went out once, at
least, every day with my gun, as well to divert myself, as to see if I
could kill anything fit for food, and as near as I could to acquaint
myself with what the island produced. The first time I went out, I
presently discovered that there were goats in the island, which was a
great satisfaction to me; but then it was attended with this misfortune
to me, viz., that they were so shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot,
that it was the difficultest thing in the world to come at them. But
I was not discouraged at this, not doubting but I might now and then
shoot one, as it soon happened; for after I had found their haunts a
little, I laid wait in this manner for them. I observed if they saw me
in the valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away as
in a terrible fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I
was upon the rocks, they took no notice of me, from whence I concluded
that, by the position of their optics, their sight was so directed
downward, that they did not readily see objects that were above them.
So afterwards I took this method; I always climbed the rocks first to
get above them, and then had frequently a fair mark. The first shot I
made among these creatures I killed a she-goat, which had a little kid
by her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me heartily; but when the
old one fell, the kid stood stock still by her till I came and took
her up; and not only so, but when I carried the old one with me upon
my shoulder, the kid followed me quite to my enclosure; upon which I
laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms, and carried it over my
pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame; but it would not eat, so I was
forced to kill it, and eat it myself. These two supplied me with flesh
a great while, for I ate sparingly, and saved my provisions, my bread
especially, as much as possibly I could.
Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to
provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn; and what I did for
that, as also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I made, I
shall give a full account of in its place. But I must first give some
little account of myself, and of my thoughts about living, which it may
well be supposed were not a few.
I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away
upon that island without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm,
quite out of the course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz.,
some hundreds of leagues out of the ordinary course of the trade of
mankind, I had great reason to consider it as a determination of
Heaven, that in this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I
should end my life. The tears would run plentifully down my face when I
made these reflections, and sometimes I would expostulate with myself,
why Providence should thus completely ruin its creatures, and render
them so absolutely miserable, so without help abandoned, so entirely
depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a
life.
But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts,
and to reprove me; and particularly one day, walking with my gun in my
hand by the seaside, I was very pensive upon the subject of my present
condition, when Reason, as it were, expostulated with me t’other way,
thus: “Well, you are in a desolate condition, it is true, but pray
remember, where are the rest of you? Did not you come eleven of you
into the boat? Where are the ten? Why were they not saved, and you
lost? Why were you singled out? Is it better to be here, or there?” And
then I pointed to the sea. All evils are to be considered with the good
that is in them, and with what worse attends them.
Then it occurred to me again, how I was furnished for my subsistence,
and what would have been my case if it had not happened, which was an
hundred thousand to one, that the ship floated from the place where
she first struck and was driven so near to the shore that I had time
to get all these things out of her; what would have been my case, if
I had been to have lived in the condition in which I at first came
on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to supply and
procure them? “Particularly,” said I aloud (though to myself), “what
should I have done without a gun, without ammunition, without any tools
to make anything or to work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent, or
any manner of covering?” and that now I had all these to a sufficient
quantity, and was in a fair way to provide myself in such a manner, as
to live without my gun when my ammunition was spent; so that I had a
tolerable view of subsisting without any want as long as I lived. For
I considered from the beginning how I would provide for the accidents
that might happen, and for the time that was to come, even not only
after my ammunition should be spent, but even after my health or
strength should decay.
I confess I had not entertained any notion of my ammunition being
destroyed at one blast--I mean, my powder being blown up by lightning;
and this made the thoughts of it so surprising to me when it lightened
and thundered, as I observed just now.
And now being to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of silent
life, such, perhaps, as was never heard of in the world before, I shall
take it from its beginning, and continue it in its order. It was, by
my account, the 30th of September when, in the manner as above said, I
first set foot upon this horrid island, when the sun being to us in its
autumnal equinox, was almost just over my head, for I reckoned myself,
by observation, to be in the latitude of 9 degrees 22 minutes north of
the line.