_Precautions Against Surprise--Robinson Discovers that His Island Has
Been Visited by Cannibals_
I immediately went to work with this piece of ground, and in less than
a month’s time I had so fenced it round, that my flock, or herd, call
it which you please, who were not so wild now as at first they might be
supposed to be, were well enough secured in it. So, without any farther
delay, I removed ten young she-goats and two he-goats to this piece.
And when they were there, I continued to perfect the fence, till I had
made it as secure as the other, which, however, I did at more leisure,
and it took me up more time by a great deal.
All this labor I was at the expense of, purely from my apprehensions
on the account of the print of a man’s foot which I had seen; for, as
yet, I never saw any human creature come near the island. And I had
now lived two years under these uneasinesses, which, indeed, made my
life much less comfortable than it was before, as may well be imagined
by any who know what it is to live in the constant snare of the fear
of man. And this I must observe, with grief too, that the discomposure
of my mind had too great impressions also upon the religious part of
my thoughts; for the dread and terror of falling into the hands of
savages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits, that I seldom found
myself in a due temper or application to my Maker, at least not with
the sedate calmness and resignation of soul which I was wont to do.
I rather prayed to God as under great affliction and pressure of
mind, surrounded with danger, and in expectation every night of being
murdered and devoured before morning; and I must testify from my
experience, that a temper of peace, thankfulness, love, and affection,
is much more the proper frame for prayer than that of terror and
discomposure; and that under the dread of mischief impending, a man is
no more fit for a comforting performance of the duty of praying to God,
than he is for repentance on a sick-bed. For these discomposures affect
the mind, as the others do the body; and the discomposure of the mind
must necessarily be as great a disability as that of the body, and much
greater, praying to God being properly an act of the mind, not of the
body.
But to go on. After I had thus secured one part of my little living
stock, I went about the whole island, searching for another private
place to make such another deposit; when, wandering more to the west
point of the island than I had ever done yet, and looking out to sea, I
thought I saw a boat upon the sea, at a great distance. I had found a
perspective glass or two in one of the seamen’s chests, which I saved
out of our ship, but I had it not about me; and this was so remote,
that I could not tell what to make of it, though I looked at it till my
eyes were not able to hold to look any longer. Whether it was a boat
or not, I do not know; but as I descended from the hill, I could see
no more of it, so I gave it over; only I resolved to go no more out
without a perspective glass in my pocket.
When I was come down the hill to the end of the island, where, indeed,
I had never been before, I was presently convinced that the seeing the
print of a man’s foot was not such a strange thing in the island as I
imagined. And, but that it was a special providence that I was cast
upon the side of the island where the savages never came, I should
easily have known that nothing was more frequent than for the canoes
from the main, when they happened to be a little too far out at sea,
to shoot over to that side of the island for harbor; likewise, as they
often met and fought in their canoes, the victors having taken any
prisoners would bring them over to this shore, where, according to
their dreadful customs, being all cannibals, they would kill and eat
them; of which hereafter.
When I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, being the
S.W. point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is
it possible for me to express the horror of my mind at seeing the shore
spread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bones, of human bodies; and
particularly, I observed a place where there had been a fire made, and
a circle dug in the earth, like a cockpit, where it is supposed the
savage wretches had sat down to the inhuman feastings upon the bodies
of their fellow-creatures.
I was so astonished with the sight of these things, that I entertained
no notion of any danger to myself from it for a long while. All my
apprehensions were buried in the thoughts of such a pitch of inhuman,
hellish brutality, and the horror of the degeneracy of human nature,
which, though I had heard of often, yet I never had so near a view of
before. In short, I turned away my face from the horrid spectacle. My
stomach grew sick, and I was just at the point of fainting, when Nature
discharged the disorder from my stomach. And having vomited with an
uncommon violence, I was a little relieved, but could not bear to stay
in the place a moment; so I got me up the hill again with all the speed
I could, and walked on towards my own habitation.
When I came a little out of that part of the island, I stood still a
while, as amazed; and then recovering myself, I looked up with the
utmost affection of my soul, and with a flood of tears in my eyes, gave
God thanks, that had cast my first lot in a part of the world where
I was distinguished from such dreadful creatures as these; and that,
though I had esteemed my present condition very miserable, had yet
given me so many comforts in it, that I had still more to give thanks
for than to complain of; and this above all, that I had, even in this
miserable condition, been comforted with the knowledge of Himself, and
the hope of His blessing; which was a felicity more than sufficiently
equivalent to all the misery which I had suffered, or could suffer.
In this frame of thankfulness I went home to my castle, and began to be
much easier now, as to the safety of my circumstances, than ever I was
before; for I observed that these wretches never came to this island in
search of what they could get; perhaps not seeking, not wanting, or not
expecting, anything here; and having often, no doubt, been up in the
covered, woody part of it, without finding anything to their purpose.
I knew I had been here now almost eighteen years, and never saw the
least footsteps of human creature there before; and I might be here
eighteen more as entirely concealed as I was now, if I did not discover
myself to them, which I had no manner of occasion to do; it being my
only business to keep myself entirely concealed where I was, unless I
found a better sort of creatures than cannibals to make myself known to.
Yet I entertained such an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I
have been speaking of, and of the wretched, inhuman custom of their
devouring and eating one another up, that I continued pensive and sad,
and kept close within my own circle for almost two years after this.
When I say my own circle, I mean by it my three plantations, viz., my
castle, my country seat, which I called my bower, and my enclosure
in the woods. Nor did I look after this for any other use than as an
enclosure for my goats; for the aversion which Nature gave me to these
hellish wretches was such, that I was fearful of seeing them as of
seeing the devil himself. Nor did I so much as go to look after my boat
in all this time, but began rather to think of making me another; for
I could not think of ever making any more attempts to bring the other
boat round the island to me, lest I should meet with some of these
creatures at sea, in which, if I had happened to have fallen into their
hands, I knew what would have been my lot.
Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I was in no danger of
being discovered by these people, began to wear off my uneasiness
about them; and I began to live just in the same composed manner as
before; only with this difference, that I used more caution, and kept
my eyes more about me, than I did before, lest I should happen to be
seen by any of them; and particularly, I was more cautious of firing
my gun, lest any of them being on the island should happen to hear of
it. And it was, therefore, a very good providence to me that I had
furnished myself with a tame breed of goats, that I needed not hunt
any more about the woods, or shoot at them. And if I did catch any of
them after this, it was by traps and snares, as I had done before; so
that for two years after this I believe I never fired my gun once off,
though I never went out without it; and, which was more, as I had saved
three pistols out of the ship, I always carried them out with me, or at
least two of them, sticking them in my goat-skin belt. Also I furbished
up one of the great cutlasses that I had out of the ship, and made me
a belt to put it on also; so that I was now a most formidable fellow
to look at when I went abroad, if you add to the former description of
myself the particular of two pistols, and a great broadsword hanging at
my side in a belt, but without a scabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some time, I seemed,
excepting these cautions, to be reduced to my former calm, sedate way
of living. All these things tended to showing me, more and more, how
far my condition was from being miserable, compared to some others;
nay, to many other particulars of life, which it might have pleased
God to have made my lot. It put me upon reflecting how little repining
there would be among mankind at any condition of life, if people would
rather compare their condition with those that are worse, in order to
be thankful, than be always comparing them with those which are better,
to assist their murmurings and complainings.
As in my present condition there were not really many things which I
wanted, so indeed I thought that the frights I had been in about these
savage wretches, and the concern I had been in for my own preservation,
had taken off the edge of my invention for my own conveniences. And
I had dropped a good design, which I had once bent my thoughts too
much upon; and that was, to try if I could not make some of my barley
into malt, and then try to brew myself some beer. This was really a
whimsical thought, and I reproved myself often for the simplicity of
it; for I presently saw there would be the want of several things
necessary to the making my beer, that it would be impossible for me to
supply. As, first, casks to preserve it in, which was a thing that, as
I have observed already, I could never compass; no, though I spent not
many days, but weeks, nay, months, in attempting it, but to no purpose.
In the next place, I had no hops to make it keep, no yeast to make it
work, no copper or kettle to make it boil; and yet all these things
notwithstanding, I verily believe, had not these things intervened,
I mean the frights and terrors I was in about the savages, I had
undertaken it, and perhaps brought it to pass too; for I seldom gave
anything over without accomplishing it when I once had it in my head
enough to begin it.
But my invention now ran quite another way; for, night and day, I
could think of nothing but how I might destroy some of these monsters
in their cruel, bloody entertainment, and, if possible, save the
victim they should bring hither to destroy. It would take up a larger
volume than this whole work is intended to be, to set down all the
contrivances I hatched, or rather brooded upon, in my thought, for
the destroying these creatures, or at least frightening them so as to
prevent their coming hither any more. But all was abortive; nothing
could be possible to take effect, unless I was to be there to do it
myself. And what could one man do among them, when perhaps there might
be twenty or thirty of them together, with their darts, or their bows
and arrows, which they could shoot as true to a mark as I could with my
gun?
Sometimes I contrived to dig a hole under the place where they made
their fire, and put in five or six pounds of gunpowder, which, when
they kindled their fire, would consequently take fire, and blow up all
that was near it. But as, in the first place, I should be very loth to
waste so much powder upon them, my store being now within the quantity
of one barrel, so neither could I be sure of its going off at any
certain time, when it might surprise them; and, at best, that it would
do little more than just blow the fire about their ears, and frighten
them, but not sufficient to make them forsake the place. So I laid it
aside, and then proposed that I would place myself in ambush in some
convenient place, with my three guns all double-loaded, and, in the
middle of their bloody ceremony, let fly at them, when I should be sure
to kill or wound perhaps two or three at every shot; and then falling
in upon them with my three pistols and my sword, I made no doubt but
that if there was twenty I should kill them all. This fancy pleased my
thoughts for some weeks; and I was so full of it, that I often dreamed
of it, and sometimes that I was just going to let fly at them in my
sleep.
I went so far with it in my imagination, that I employed myself several
days to find out proper places to put myself in ambuscade, as I said,
to watch for them; and I went frequently to the place itself, which
was now grown more familiar to me; and especially while my mind was
thus filled with thoughts of revenge, and of a bloody putting twenty
or thirty of them to the sword, as I may call it, the horror I had at
the place, and at the signals of the barbarous wretches devouring one
another, abated my malice.
Well, at length I found a place in the side of the hill, where I was
satisfied I might securely wait till I saw any of their boats coming;
and might then, even before they would be ready to come on shore,
convey myself, unseen, into thickets of trees, in one of which there
was a hollow large enough to conceal me entirely; and where I might
sit and observe all their bloody doings, and take my full aim at their
heads, when they were so close together, as that it would be next to
impossible that I should miss my shot, or that I could fail wounding
three or four of them at the first shot.
In this place, then, I resolved to fix my design; and, accordingly, I
prepared two muskets and my ordinary fowling-piece. The two muskets I
loaded with a brace of slugs each, and four or five smaller bullets,
about the size of pistol-bullets; and the fowling-piece I loaded
with near a handful of swanshot, of the largest size. I also loaded
my pistols with about four bullets each; and in this posture, well
provided with ammunition for a second and third charge, I prepared
myself for my expedition.
After I had thus laid the scheme of my design, and in my imagination
put it in practice, I continually made my tour every morning up to the
top of the hill, which was from my castle, as I called it, about three
miles, or more, to see if I could observe any boats upon the sea coming
near the island, or standing over towards it. But I began to tire of
this hard duty, after I had, for two or three months, constantly kept
my watch, but came always back without any discovery; there having not,
in all that time, been the least appearance, not only on or near the
shore, but not on the whole ocean so far as my eyes or glasses could
reach every way.
As long as I kept up my daily tour to the hill to look out, so long
also I kept up the vigor of my design, and my spirits seemed to be
all the while in a suitable form for so outrageous an execution as
the killing twenty or thirty naked savages for an offence which I had
not at all entered into a discussion of in my thoughts, any farther
than my passions were at first fired by the horror I conceived at the
unnatural custom of that people of the country; who, it seems, had
been suffered by Providence, in His wise disposition of the world, to
have no other guide than that of their own abominable and vitiated
passions; and consequently were left, and perhaps had been so for some
ages, to act such horrid things, and receive such dreadful customs,
as nothing but nature entirely abandoned of Heaven, and acted by some
hellish degeneracy, could have run them into. But now when, as I have
said, I began to be weary of the fruitless excursion which I had made
so long and so far every morning in vain, so my opinion of the action
itself began to alter; and I began, with cooler and calmer thoughts, to
consider what it was I was going to engage in.
What authority or call I had to pretend to be judge and executioner
upon these men as criminals, whom Heaven had thought fit, for so many
ages, to suffer, unpunished, to go on, and to be, as it were, the
executioners of His judgments one upon another? How far these people
were offenders against me, and what right I had to engage in the
quarrel of that blood which they shed promiscuously one upon another?
I debated this very often with myself, thus: How do I know what God
Himself judges in this particular case? It is certain these people
either do not commit this as a crime; it is not against their own
consciences’ reproving, or their light reproaching them. They do not
know it to be an offense, and then commit it in defiance of Divine
justice, as we do in almost all the sins we commit. They think it no
more a crime to kill a captive taken in war, than we do to kill an ox;
nor to eat human flesh, than we do to eat mutton.
When I had considered this a little, it followed necessarily that I
was certainly in the wrong in it; that these people were not murderers
in the sense that I had before condemned them in my thoughts, any
more than those Christians were murderers who often put to death the
prisoners taken in battle; or more frequently, upon many occasions, put
whole troops of men to the sword, without giving quarter, though they
threw down their arms and submitted.
In the next place it occurred to me, that albeit the usage they thus
gave one another was thus brutish and inhuman, yet it was really
nothing to me; these people had done me no injury. That if they
attempted me, or I saw it necessary for my immediate preservation to
fall upon them, something might be said for it; but that as I was
yet out of their power, and they had really no knowledge of me, and
consequently no design upon me, and therefore it could not be just
for me to fall upon them. That this would justify the conduct of the
Spaniards in all their barbarities practised in America, and where they
destroyed millions of these people; who, however they were idolaters
and barbarians, and had several bloody and barbarous rites in their
customs, such as sacrificing human bodies to their idols, were yet, as
to the Spaniards, very innocent people; and that the rooting them out
of the country is spoken of with the utmost abhorrence and detestation
by even the Spaniards themselves at this time, and by all other
Christian nations of Europe, as a mere butchery, a bloody and unnatural
piece of cruelty, unjustifiable either to God or man; and such, as
for which the very name of a Spaniard is reckoned to be frightful and
terrible to all people of humanity, or of Christian compassion; as if
the kingdom of Spain were particularly eminent for the product of a
race of men who were without principles of tenderness, or the common
bowels of pity to the miserable, which is reckoned to be a mark of
generous temper in the mind.
These considerations really put me to a pause, and to a kind of a full
stop; and I began, by little and little, to be off of my design, and
to conclude I had taken wrong measures in my resolutions to attack
the savages; that it was not my business to meddle with them, unless
they first attacked me; and this it was my business, if possible, to
prevent; but that if I were discovered and attacked, then I knew my
duty.
On the other hand, I argued with myself that this really was the way
not to deliver myself, but entirely to ruin and destroy myself; for
unless I was sure to kill every one that not only should be on shore at
that time, but that should ever come on shore afterwards, if but one of
them escaped to tell their country people what had happened, they would
come over again by thousands to revenge the death of their fellows,
and I should only bring upon myself a certain destruction, which, at
present, I had no manner of occasion for.
Upon the whole, I concluded that neither in principles nor in policy
I ought, one way or other, to concern myself in this affair. That my
business was, by all possible means, to conceal myself from them, and
not to leave the least signal to them to guess by that there were any
living creatures upon the island; I mean of human shape.
Religion joined in with this prudential, and I was convinced now,
many ways, that I was perfectly out of my duty when I was laying all
my bloody schemes for the destruction of innocent creatures; I mean
innocent as to me. As to the crimes they were guilty of towards one
another, I had nothing to do with them. They were national, and I ought
to leave them to the justice of God, who is the Governor of nations,
and knows how, by national punishments, to make a just retribution for
national offenses, and to bring public judgments upon those who offend
in a public manner by such ways as best pleases Him.
This appeared so clear to me now, that nothing was a greater
satisfaction to me than that I had not been suffered to do a thing
which I now saw so much reason to believe would have been no less a
sin than that of wilful murder, if I had committed it. And I gave most
humble thanks on my knees to God, that had thus delivered me from
blood-guiltiness; beseeching Him to grant me the protection of His
providence, that I might not fall into the hands of the barbarians, or
that I might not lay my hands upon them, unless I had a more clear call
from Heaven to do it, in defense of my own life.