_He Makes a Smaller Canoe in which He Attempts to Cruise Round the
Island--His Perilous Situation at Sea--He Returns Home_
I cannot say that after this, for five years, any extraordinary thing
happened to me; but I lived on in the same course, in the same posture
and place, just as before. The chief things I was employed in, besides
my yearly labor of planting my barley and rice, and curing my raisins,
of both which I always kept up just enough to have sufficient stock of
one year’s provisions beforehand--and my daily labor of going out with
my gun, I had one labor, to make me a canoe, which at last I finished;
so that by digging a canal to it of six feet wide, and four feet deep,
I brought it into the creek, almost half a mile. As for the first,
which was so vastly big, as I made it without considering beforehand,
as I ought to do, how I should be able to launch it; so, never being
able to bring it to the water, or bring the water to it, I was obliged
to let it lie where it was, as a memorandum to teach me to be wiser
next time. Indeed, the next time, though I could not get a tree proper
for it, and in a place where I could not get the water to it at any
less distance than, as I have said, near half a mile, yet as I saw it
was practicable at last, I never gave it over; and though I was near
two years about it, yet I never grudged my labor, in hopes of having a
boat to go off to sea at last.
However, though my little _periagua_ was finished, yet the size of it
was not at all answerable to the design which I had in view when I made
the first; I mean, of venturing over to the _terra firma_, where it was
above forty miles broad. Accordingly, the smallness of my boat assisted
to put an end to that design, and now I thought no more of it. But as I
had a boat, my next design was to make a tour round the island; for as
I had been on the other side in one place, crossing, as I have already
described it, over the land, so the discoveries I made in that little
journey made me very eager to see other parts of the coast; and now I
had a boat, I thought of nothing but sailing round the island.
For this purpose, that I might do everything with discretion and
consideration, I fitted up a little mast to my boat, and made a sail to
it out of some of the piece of the ship’s sail, which lay in store, and
of which I had a great stock by me.
Having fitted my mast and sail, and tried the boat, I found she would
sail very well. Then I made little lockers, or boxes, at either end of
my boat, to put provisions, necessaries, and ammunition, etc., into,
to be kept dry, either from rain or the spray of the sea; and a little
long hollow place I cut in the inside of the boat, where I could lay my
gun, making a flap to hang down over it to keep it dry.
I fixed my umbrella also in a step at the stern, like a mast, to stand
over my head, and keep the heat of the sun off of me, like an awning;
and thus I every now and then took a little voyage upon the sea, but
never went far out, nor far from the little creek. But at last, being
eager to view the circumference of my little kingdom, I resolved upon
my tour; and accordingly I victualled my ship for the voyage, putting
in two dozen of my loaves (cakes I should rather call them) of barley
bread, an earthen pot full of parched rice, a food I ate a great deal
of, a little bottle of rum, half a goat, and powder and shot for
killing more, and two large watch-coats, of those which, as I mentioned
before, I had saved out of the seamen’s chests; these I took, one to
lie upon, and the other to cover me in the night.
It was the 6th of November, in the sixth year of my reign, or my
captivity, which you please, that I set out on this voyage, and I found
it much longer than I expected; for though the island itself was not
very large, yet when I came to the east side of it I found a great
ledge of rocks lie out about two leagues into the sea, some above
water, some under it, and beyond that a shoal of sand, lying dry half
a league more; so that I was obliged to go a great way out to sea to
double the point.
When first I discovered them, I was going to give over my enterprise,
and come back again, not knowing how far it might oblige me to go out
to sea, and, above all, doubting how I should get back again, so I came
to an anchor; for I had made me a kind of anchor with a piece of a
broken grappling which I got out of the ship.
Having secured my boat, I took my gun and went on shore, climbing up
upon a hill, which seemed to overlook that point, where I saw the full
extent of it, and resolved to venture.
[Illustration: “_--and thus I every now and then took a little voyage
upon the sea_”]
In my viewing the sea from that hill, where I stood, I perceived a
strong, and indeed a most furious current, which ran to the east,
and even came close to the point; and I took the more notice of it,
because I saw there might be some danger that when I came into it I
might be carried out to sea by the strength of it, and not be able to
make the island again. And indeed, had I not gotten first up upon this
hill, I believe it would have been so; for there was the same current
on the other side of the island, only that it set off at a farther
distance; and I saw there was a strong eddy under the shore; so I had
nothing to do but to get in out of the first current, and I should
presently be in an eddy.
I lay here, however, two days; because the wind, blowing pretty fresh
at E.S.E., and that being just contrary to the said current, made a
great breach of the sea upon the point; so that it was not safe for me
to keep too close to the shore for the breach, nor to go too far off
because of the stream.
The third day, in the morning, the wind having abated overnight, the
sea was calm, and I ventured. But I am a warning-piece again to all
rash and ignorant pilots; for no sooner was I come to the point, when
even I was not my boat’s length from the shore, but I found myself in
a great depth of water, and a current like the sluice of a mill. It
carried my boat along with it with such violence, that all I could
do could not keep her so much as on the edge of it, but I found it
hurried me farther and farther out from the eddy, which was on my left
hand. There was no wind stirring to help me, and all I could do with
my paddlers signified nothing. And now I began to give myself over for
lost; for, as the current was on both sides the island, I knew in a few
leagues’ distance they must join again, and then I was irrevocably
gone. Nor did I see any possibility of avoiding it; so that I had no
prospect before me but of perishing; not by the sea, for that was calm
enough, but of starving for hunger. I had indeed found a tortoise on
the shore, as big almost as I could lift, and had tossed it into the
boat; and I had a great jar of fresh water, that is to say, one of
my earthen pots; but what was all this to being driven into the vast
ocean, where, to be sure, there was no shore, no mainland or island,
for a thousand leagues at least.
And now I saw how easy it was for the providence of God to make the
most miserable condition mankind could be in worse. Now I looked
back upon my desolate solitary island as the most pleasant place in
the world, and all the happiness my heart could wish for was to be
but there again. I stretched out my hands to it, with eager wishes.
“O happy desert!” said I, “I shall never see thee more. O miserable
creature,” said I, “whither am I going?” Then I reproached myself with
my unthankful temper, and how I had repined at my solitary condition;
and now what would I give to be on shore there again. Thus we never see
the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its
contraries; nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.
It is scarce possible to imagine the consternation I was now in, being
driven from my beloved island (for so it appeared to me now to be) into
the wide ocean, almost two leagues, and in the utmost despair of ever
recovering it again. However, I worked hard, till indeed my strength
was almost exhausted, and kept my boat as much to the northward, that
is, towards the side of the current which the eddy lay on, as possibly
I could; when about noon, as the sun passed the meridian, I thought I
felt a little breeze of wind in my face, springing up from the S.S.E.
This cheered my heart a little, and especially when, in about half
an hour more, it blew a pretty small gentle gale. By this time I was
gotten at a frightful distance from the island; and had the least
cloud or hazy weather intervened, I had been undone another way too;
for I had no compass on board, and should never have known how to have
steered towards the island if I had but once lost sight of it. But the
weather continuing clear, I applied myself to get up my mast again, and
spread my sail, standing away to the north as much as possible, to get
out of the current.
Just as I had set my mast and sail, and the boat began to stretch away,
I saw even by the clearness of the water some alteration of the current
was near; for where the current was so strong, the water was foul. But
perceiving the water clear, I found the current abate, and presently I
found to the east, at about half a mile, a breach of the sea upon some
rocks. These rocks I found caused the current to part again; and as the
main stress of it ran away more southerly, leaving the rocks to the
north-east, so the other returned by the repulse of the rocks, and made
a strong eddy, which ran back again to the north-west with a very sharp
stream.
They who know what it is to have a reprieve brought to them upon the
ladder, or to be rescued from thieves just going to murder them, or
who have been in such like extremities, may guess what my present
surprise of joy was, and how gladly I put my boat into the stream of
this eddy; and the wind also freshening, how gladly I spread my sail to
it, running cheerfully before the wind, and with a strong tide or eddy
under foot.
This eddy carried me about a league in my way back again, directly
towards the island, but about two leagues more to the northward than
the current which carried me away at first; so that when I came near
the island, I found myself open to the northern shore of it, that is
to say, the outer end of the island, opposite to that which I went out
from.
When I had made something more than a league of way by the help of
this current or eddy, I found it was spent, and served me no farther.
However, I found that being between the two great currents, viz., that
on the south side, which had hurried me away, and that on the north,
which lay about a league on the other side; I say, between these two,
in the wake of the island, I found the water at least still, and
running no way; and having still a breeze of wind fair for me, I kept
on steering directly for the island, though not making such fresh way
as I did before.
About four o’clock in the evening, being then within about a league
of the island, I found the point of the rocks which occasioned this
disaster stretching out, as is described before, to the southward, and
casting off the current more southwardly had, of course, made another
eddy to the north, and this I found very strong, but not directly
setting the way my course lay, which was due west, but almost full
north. However, having a fresh gale, I stretched across this eddy,
slanting north-west; and in about an hour came within about a mile of
the shore, where, it being smooth water, I soon got to land.
When I was on shore, I fell on my knees, and gave God thanks for my
deliverance, resolving to lay aside all thoughts of my deliverance by
my boat; and refreshing myself with such things as I had, I brought my
boat close to the shore, in a little cove that I had spied under some
trees, and laid me down to sleep, being quite spent with the labor and
fatigue of the voyage.
I was now at a great loss which way to get home with my boat. I had run
so much hazard, and knew too much the case, to think of attempting it
by the way I went out; and what might be at the other side (I mean the
west side) I knew not, nor had I any mind to run any more ventures. So
I only resolved in the morning to make my way westward along the shore,
and to see if there was no creek where I might lay up my frigate in
safety, so as to have her again if I wanted her. In about three miles,
or thereabouts, coasting the shore, I came to a very good inlet or bay,
about a mile over, which narrowed till it came to a very little rivulet
or brook, where I found a very convenient harbor for my boat, and where
she lay as if she had been in a little dock made on purpose for her.
Here I put in, and having stowed my boat very safe, I went on shore to
look about me, and see where I was.
I soon found I had but a little passed by the place where I had been
before, when I travelled on foot to that shore; so taking nothing out
of my boat but my gun and my umbrella, for it was exceedingly hot, I
began my march. The way was comfortable enough after such a voyage as I
had been upon, and I reached my old bower in the evening, where I found
everything standing as I left it; for I always kept it in good order,
being, as I said before, my country house.
I got over the fence, and laid me down in the shade to rest my limbs,
for I was very weary, and fell asleep. But judge you, if you can, that
read my story, what a surprise I must be in, when I was waked out of my
sleep by a voice calling me by my name several times, “Robin, Robin,
Robin Crusoe, poor Robin Crusoe! Where are you, Robin Crusoe? Where are
you? Where have you been?”
I was so dead asleep at first, being fatigued with rowing, or paddling,
as it is called, the first part of the day, and with walking the latter
part, that I did not wake thoroughly; but dozing between sleeping
and waking, thought I dreamed that somebody spoke to me. But as the
voice continued to repeat “Robin Crusoe, Robin Crusoe,” at last I
began to wake more perfectly, and was at first dreadfully frightened,
and started up in the utmost consternation. But no sooner were my
eyes open, but I saw my Poll sitting on the top of the hedge, and
immediately knew that it was he that spoke to me; for just in such
bemoaning language I had used to talk to him, and teach him; and he
had learned it so perfectly, that he would sit upon my finger, and
lay his bill close to my face, and cry, “Poor Robin Crusoe! Where are
you? Where have you been? How come you here?” and such things as I had
taught him.
However, even though I knew it was the parrot, and that indeed it
could be nobody else, it was a good while before I could compose
myself. First, I was amazed how the creature got thither, and then, how
he should just keep about the place, and nowhere else. But as I was
well satisfied it could be nobody but honest Poll, I got it over; and
holding out my hand, and calling him by his name, Poll, the sociable
creature, came to me, and sat upon my thumb, as he used to do, and
continued talking to me, “Poor Robin Crusoe! and how did I come here?
and where had I been?” just as if he had been overjoyed to see me
again; and so I carried him home along with me.
I had now had enough of rambling to sea for some time, and had enough
to do for many days to sit still, and reflect upon the danger I had
been in. I would have been very glad to have had my boat again on my
side of the island; but I knew not how it was practicable to get it
about. As to the east side of the island, which I had gone round, I
knew well enough there was no venturing that way; my very heart would
shrink, and my very blood run chill, but to think of it. And as to the
other side of the island, I did not know how it might be there; but
supposing the current ran with the same force against the shore at
the east as it passed by it on the other, I might run the same risk
of being driven down the stream, and carried by the island, as I had
been before of being carried away from it. So, with these thoughts, I
contented myself to be without any boat, though it had been the product
of so many months’ labor to make it and of so many more to get it unto
the sea.
In this government of my temper I remained near a year, lived a very
sedate, retired life, as you may well suppose; and my thoughts being
very much composed as to my condition, and fully comforted in resigning
myself to the dispositions of Providence, I thought I lived really very
happily in all things, except that of society.
I improved myself in this time in all the mechanic exercises which my
necessities put me upon applying myself to, and I believe could, upon
occasion, make a very good carpenter, especially considering how few
tools I had. Besides this, I arrived at an unexpected perfection in
my earthenware, and contrived well enough to make them with a wheel,
which I found infinitely easier and better, because I made things round
and shapable which before were filthy things indeed to look on. But I
think I was never more vain of my own performance, or more joyful for
anything found out, than for my being able to make a tobacco-pipe. And
though it was a very ugly, clumsy thing when it was done, and only
burnt red, like other earthenware, yet as it was hard and firm, and
would draw the smoke, I was exceedingly comforted with it; for I had
been always used to smoke, and there were pipes in the ship, but I
forgot them at first, not knowing that there was tobacco in the island;
and afterwards, when I searched the ship again, I could not come at any
pipes at all.
In my wicker-ware also I improved much, and made abundance of necessary
baskets, as well as my invention showed me; though not very handsome,
yet they were such as were very handy and convenient for my laying
things up in, or fetching things home in. For example, if I killed a
goat abroad, I could hang it up in a tree, flay it, and dress it, and
cut it in pieces, and bring it home in a basket; and the like by a
turtle; I could cut it up, take out the eggs, and a piece or two of the
flesh, which was enough for me, and bring them home in a basket, and
leave the rest behind me. Also large deep baskets were my receivers for
my corn, which I always rubbed out as soon as it was dry, and cured,
and kept it in great baskets.
I began now to perceive my powder abated considerably, and this was a
want which it was impossible for me to supply, and I began seriously to
consider what I must do when I should have no more powder; that is to
say, how I should do to kill any goats. I had, as is observed, in the
third year of my being here kept a young kid, and bred her up tame, and
I was in hope of getting a he-goat. But I could not by any means bring
it to pass, till my kid grew an old goat; and I could never find in my
heart to kill her, till she died at last of mere age.