into the cave which I had made behind me: but I must observe too that at
first this was a confused heap of goods, which as they lay in no order,
so they took up all my place: I had no room to turn myself; so I set
myself to enlarge my cave, and work farther into the earth; for it was a
loose sandy rock, which yielded easily to the labour I bestowed on it:
and so when I found I was pretty safe as to beasts of prey, I worked
sideways to the right hand into the rock; and then, turning to the right
again, worked quite out, and made me a door to come out, on the outside
of my pale or fortification.
This gave me not only egress and regress, as it were a back-way to my
tent and to my storehouse, but gave me room to stow my goods.
And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as I found
I most wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for without these I was
not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world; I could not write
or eat, or do several things with so much pleasure without a table.
So I went to work; and here I must needs observe, that as reason is the
substance and original of the mathematics, so by stating and squaring
every thing by reason, and by making the most rational judgment of
things, every man may be in time master of every mechanic art. I had
never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time, by labour,
application, and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but
I could have made it, especially if I had had tools; however, I made
abundance of things, even without tools, and some with no more tools
than an adze and a hatchet, which perhaps were never made that way
before, and that with infinite labour: for example, if I wanted a board,
I had no other way but to cut down a tree, set it on an edge before me,
and hew it flat on either side with my axe, till I had brought it to be
as thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adze. It is true, by
this method I could make but one board out of a whole tree; but this I
had no remedy for but patience, any more than I had for the prodigious
deal of time and labour which it took me up to make a plank or board:
but my time or labour was little worth, and so it was as well employed
one way as another.
However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the
first place; and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I
brought on my raft from the ship: but when I had wrought out some
boards, as above, I made large shelves of the breadth of a foot and a
half one over another, all along one side of my cave, to lay all my
tools, nails, and iron-work, and in a word, to separate every thing at
large in their places, that I might come easily at them. I knocked
pieces into the wall of the rock to hang my guns and all things that
would hang up.
So that, had my cave been to be seen, it looked like a general magazine
of all necessary things; and I had every thing so ready at my hand, that
it was a great pleasure to me to see all my goods in such order, and
especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day’s employment;
for indeed at first I was in too much a hurry; and not only hurry as to
labour, but in too much discomposure of mind, and my journal would have
been full of many dull things. For example, I must have said thus: Sept.
the 30th, after I got to shore, and had escaped drowning, instead of
being thankful to God for my deliverance, having first vomited with the
great quantity of salt water which was gotten into my stomach, and
recovering myself a little, I ran about the shore, wringing my hands,
and beating my head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying out, I
was undone, undone; till tired and faint I was forced to lie down on the
ground to repose, but durst not sleep for fear of being devoured.
Some days after this, and after I had been on board the ship, and got
all that I could out of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the
top of a little mountain, and looking out to sea in hopes of seeing a
ship; then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sail; please myself with
the hopes of it; and then after looking steadily till I was almost
blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like a child, and thus
increase my misery by my folly.
But having gotten over these things in some measure, and having settled
my household-stuff and habitation, made me a table and a chair, and all
as handsome about me as I could, I began to keep my journal, of which I
shall here give you the copy (though in it will be told all those
particulars over again) as long as it lasted; for having no more ink, I
was forced to leave it off.
* * * * *
THE JOURNAL.
_September 30, 1659_.
I poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked, during a dreadful
storm in the offing, came on shore on this dismal unfortunate island,
which I called the Island of Despair; all the rest of the ship’s company
being drowned, and myself almost dead.
All the rest of that day I spent in afflicting myself at the dismal
circumstances I was brought to, viz. I had neither food, house,
clothes, weapon, or place to fly to, and in despair of any relief, saw
nothing but death before me, either that I should be devoured by wild
beasts, murdered by savages, or starved to death for want of food. At
the approach of night I slept in a tree, for fear of wild creatures, but
slept soundly, though it rained all night.
October 1. In the morning I saw, to my great surprise, the ship had
floated with the high tide, and was driven on shore again much nearer
the island; which as it was some comfort on one hand, for seeing her sit
upright, and not broken to pieces, I hoped, if the wind abated, I might
get on board, and get some food and necessaries out of her for my
relief; so on the other hand, it renewed my grief at the loss of my
comrades, who I imagined, if we had all staid on board, might have saved
the ship, or at least that they would not have been all drowned, as they
were; and that, had the men been saved, we might perhaps have built us a
boat out of the ruins of the ship, to have carried us to some other part
of the world. I spent great part of this day in perplexing myself on
these things; but at length, seeing the ship almost dry, I went upon the
sand as near as I could, and then swam on board. This day also it
continued raining, though with no wind at all.
From the 1st of October to the 24th. All these days entirely spent in
many several voyages to get all I could out of the ship, which I brought
on shore, every tide of flood, upon rafts. Much rain also in these days,
though with some intervals of fair weather: but, it seems, this was the
rainy season.
Oct. 20. I overset my raft, and all the goods I had got up upon it; but
being in shoal water, and the things being chiefly heavy, I recovered
many of them when the tide was out.
Oct. 25. It rained all night and all day, with some gusts of wind;
during which time the ship broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little
harder than before, and was no more to be seen, except the wreck of her,
and that only at low water. I spent this day in covering and securing
the goods which I had saved, that rain might not spoil them.
Oct. 26. I walked about the shore almost all day, to find out a place to
fix my habitation, greatly concerned to secure myself from any attack in
the night, either from wild beasts or men. Towards night I fixed upon a
proper place under a rock, and marked out a semicircle for my
encampment, which I resolved to strengthen with a work, wall, or
fortification made of double piles, lined within with cable, and without
with turf.
From the 26th to the 30th I worked very hard in carrying all my goods to
my new habitation, though some part of the time it rained
exceeding hard.
The 31st in the morning I went out into the island with my gun, to see
for some food, and discover the country; when I killed a she goat, and
her kid followed me home, which I afterwards killed also, because it
would not feed.
November 1. I set up my tent under a rock, and lay there for the first
night, making it as large as I could with stakes driven in to swing my
hammock upon.
Nov. 2. I set up all my chests and boards, and the pieces of timber
which made my rafts, and with them formed a fence round me, a little
within the place I had marked out for my fortification.
Nov. 3. I went out with my gun, and killed two fowls like ducks, which
were very good food. In the afternoon went to work to make me a table.
Nov. 4. This morning I began to order my times of work, of going out
with my gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion; viz. every morning I
walked out with my gun for two or three hours, if it did not rain, then
employed myself to work till about eleven o’clock, then ate what I had
to live on, and from twelve to two I lay down to sleep, the weather
being excessive hot, and then in the evening to work again: the working
part of this day and of the next were wholly employed in making my
table, for I was yet but a very sorry workman, though time and necessity
make me a complete natural mechanic soon after, as I believe it would do
any one else.
Nov. 5. This day went abroad with my gun and my dog, and killed a wild
cat, her skin pretty soft, but her flesh good for nothing: every
creature I killed I took off the skins and preserved them. Coming back
by the sea-shore I saw many sorts of sea-fowls, which I did not
understand; but was surprised and almost frighted with two or three
seals, which, while I was gazing at, not well knowing what they were,
got into the sea, and escaped me for that time.
Nov. 6. After my morning walk I went to work with my table again, and
finished it, though not to my liking, nor was it long before I learnt
to mend it.
Nov. 7. Now it began to be settled fair weather. The 7th, 8th, 9th,
10th, and part of the 12th (for the 11th was Sunday), I took wholly up
to make me a chair, and with much ado brought it to a tolerable shape,
but never to please me; and even in the making I pulled it in pieces
several times. _Note_, I soon neglected my keeping Sundays, for omitting
my mark for them on my post, I forgot which was which.
Nov. 13. This day it rained, which refreshed me exceedingly, and cooled
the earth, but it was accompanied with terrible thunder and lightning,
which frighted me dreadfully for fear of my powder: as soon as it was
over I resolved to separate my stock of powder into as many little
parcels as possible, that it might not be in danger.
Nov. 14, 15, 16. These three days I spent in making little square chests
or boxes, which might hold a pound, or two pound, at most, of powder;
and so putting the powder in, I stowed it in places as secure and remote
from one another as possible. On one of these three days I killed a
large bird that was good to eat, but I knew not what to call it.
Nov. 17. This day I began to dig behind my tent into the rock, to make
room for my farther conveniency. _Note_, Three things I wanted
exceedingly for this work, viz. a pickaxe, a shovel, and a wheel-barrow
or basket; so I desisted from my work, and began to consider how to
supply that want, and make me some tools: as for a pickaxe, I made use
of the iron crows, which were proper enough, though heavy; but the next
thing was a shovel or spade; this was so absolutely necessary, that
indeed I could do nothing effectually without it; but what kind of one
to make I knew not.
Nov. 18. The next day in searching the woods I found a tree of that
wood, or like it, which in the Brasils they call the iron tree, for its
exceeding hardness: of this, with great labour and almost spoiling my
axe, I cut a piece, and brought it home too with difficulty enough, for
it was exceeding heavy.
The excessive hardness of the wood, and having no other way, made me a
long while upon this machine; for I worked it effectually by little and
little into the form of a shovel or spade, the handle exactly shaped
like ours in England, only that the broad part having no iron shod upon
it at bottom, it would not last me so long; however, it served well
enough for the uses which I had occasion to put it to; but never was a
shovel, I believe, made after that fashion, or so long a making.
I was still deficient, for I wanted a basket or a wheel-barrow; a basket
I could not make by any means, having no such things as twigs that would
bend to make wicker-ware, at least none yet found out; and as to a
wheel-barrow, I fancied I could make; all but the wheel, but that I had
no notion of, neither did I know how to go about it; besides, I had no
possible way to make the iron gudgeons for the spindle or axis of the
wheel to run in, so I gave it over; and so for carrying away the earth
which I dug out of the cave, I made me a thing like a hod which the
labourers carry mortar in, when they serve the bricklayers.
This was not so difficult to me as the making the shovel; and yet this,
and the shovel, and the attempt which I made in vain to make a
wheel-barrow, took me up no less than four days, I mean always excepting
my morning walk with my gun, which I seldom failed; and very seldom
failed also bringing home something to eat.
Nov. 23. My other work having now stood still, because of my making
these tools, when they were finished I went on, and working every day,
as my strength and time allowed, I spent eighteen days entirely in
widening and deepening my cave, that it might hold my goods
commodiously.
_Note_, During all this time, I worked to make this room or cave
spacious enough to accommodate me as a warehouse or magazine, a kitchen,
a dining-room, and a cellar: as for my lodging, I kept to the tent,
except that sometimes in the wet season of the year, it rained so hard
that I could not keep myself dry, which caused me afterwards to cover
all my place within my pale with long poles in the form of rafters,
leaning against the rock, and load them with flags and large leaves of
trees like a thatch.
Dec. 10. I began now to think my cave or vault finished, when on a
sudden (it seems I had made it too large) a great quantity of earth fell
down from the top and one side, so much that in short it frighted me,
and not without reason too; for if I had been under it I had never
wanted a gravedigger. Upon this disaster I had a great deal of work to
do over again; for I had the loose earth to carry out, and, which was of
more importance, I had the ceiling to prop up, so that I might be sure
no more would come down.
Dec. 11. This day I went to work with it accordingly, and got two shores
or posts pitched upright to the top, with two pieces of boards across
over each post; this I finished the next day; and setting more posts up
with boards, in about a week more I had the roof secured; and the posts,
standing in rows, served me for partitions to part off my house.
Dec. 17. From this day to the twentieth I placed shelves, and knocked
up nails on the posts to hang every thing up that could be hung up: and
now I began to be in some order within doors.
Dec. 20. Now I carried every thing into the cave, and began to furnish
my house, and set up some pieces of boards like a dresser, to order my
victuals upon; but boards began to be very scarce with me: also I made
me another table.
Dec. 24. Much rain all night and all day; no stirring out.
Dec. 25. Rain all day.
Dec. 26. No rain, and the earth much cooler than before and pleasanter.
Dec. 27. Killed a young goat, and lamed another, so that I caught it,
and led it home in a string; when I had it home, I bound and splintered
up its leg which was broke. N.B. I took such care of it that it lived,
and the leg grew well and as strong as ever; but by nursing it so long
it grew tame, and fed upon the little green at my door, and would not go
away. This was the first time that I entertained a thought of breeding
up some tame creatures, that I might have food when my powder and shot
was all spent.
Dec. 28, 29, 30. Great heats and no breeze; so that there was no
stirring abroad, except in the evening for food. This time I spent in
putting all my things in order within doors.
January 1. Very hot still, but I went abroad early and late with my gun,
and lay still in the middle of the day. This evening, going farther into
the vallies which lay towards the centre of the island, I found there
was plenty of goats, though exceeding shy and hard to come at; however,
I resolved to try if I could not bring my dog to hunt them down.
Jan. 2. Accordingly, the next day I went out with my dog, and set him
upon the goats; but I was mistaken, for they all faced about upon the
dog; and he knew his danger too well, for he would not come near them.
Jan. 3. I began my fence or wall; which, being still jealous of my
being attacked by somebody, I resolved to make very thick and strong.
N.B. This wall being described before, I purposely omit what
was said, in the Journal; it is sufficient to observe, that I
was no less time than from the 3d of January to the 14th of
April, working, finishing, and perfecting this wall, though
it was no more than about twenty-four yards in length, being
a half-circle from one place in the rock to another place
about eight yards from it, the door of the cave being in the
centre behind it.
All this time I worked very hard, the rains hindering me many days, nay,
sometimes weeks together; But I thought I should never be perfectly
secure until this wall was finished; and it is scarce credible what
inexpressible labour every thing was done with, especially the bringing
piles out of the woods, and driving them into the ground, for I made
them much bigger than I need to have done.
When this wall was finished, and the outside double fenced with a turf
wall raised up close to it, I persuaded myself that if any people were
to come on shore there, they would not perceive any thing like a
habitation; and it was very well I did so, as may be observed hereafter
upon a very remarkable occasion.
During this time I made my rounds in the woods for game every day, when
the rain admitted me, and made frequent discoveries in these walks of
something or other to my advantage; particularly I found a kind of wild
pigeons, who built not as wood pigeons in a tree, but rather as house
pigeons, in the holes of the rocks; and taking some young ones, I
endeavoured to breed them up tame, and did so; but when they grew older
they flew away, which perhaps was at first for want of feeding them, for
I had nothing to give them; however, I frequently found their nests, and
got their young ones, which were very good meat.
And now, in the managing my household affairs, I found myself wanting in
many things, which I thought at first it was impossible for me to make,
as indeed as to some of them it was; for instance, I could never make a
cask to be hooped; I had a small runlet or two, as I observed before,
but I could never arrive to the capacity of making one by them, though I
spent many weeks about it; I could neither put in the heads, or joint
the staves so true to one another as to make them hold water: so I gave
that also over.
In the next place, I was at a great loss for candle; so that as soon as
ever it was dark, which was generally by seven o’clock, I was obliged to
go to bed: I remembered the lump of bees-wax with which I made candles
in my African adventure, but I had none of that now; the only remedy I
had, was, that when I had killed a goat I saved the tallow, and with a
little dish made of clay, which I baked in the sun, to which I added a
wick of some oakum, I made me a lamp; and this gave me light, though not
a clear steady light like a candle. In the middle of all my labours it
happened, that, rummaging my things, I found a little bag, which, as I
hinted before, had been filled with corn for the feeding of poultry; not
for this voyage, but before, as I suppose, when the ship came from
Lisbon; what little remainder of corn had been in the bag, was all
devoured with the rats, and I saw nothing in the bag but husks and dust;
and being willing to have the bag for some other use, I think it was to
put powder in, when I divided it for fear of the lightning, or some such
use, I shook the husks of corn out of it on one side of my fortification
under the rock.
It was a little before the great rains, just now mentioned, that I threw
this stuff away, taking no notice of any thing, and not so much as
remembering that I had thrown any thing there; when about a month after,
or thereabout, I saw some few stalks of something green shooting out of
the ground, which I fancied might be some plant I had not seen; but I
was surprised and perfectly astonished, when after a little longer time
I saw about ten or twelve ears come out, which were perfect green barley
of the same kind as our European, nay, as our English barley.
It is impossible to express the astonishment and confusion of my
thoughts on this occasion; I had hitherto acted upon no religious
foundation at all; indeed I had very few notions of religion in my head,
or had entertained any sense of any thing that had befallen me,
otherwise than as a chance, or, as we lightly say, what pleases God;
without so much as inquiring into the end of Providence in these things,
or his order in governing events in the world: but after I saw barley
grow there, in a climate which I knew was not proper for corn, and
especially that I knew not how it came there, it startled me strangely,
and I began to suggest, that God had miraculously caused this grain to
grow without any help of seed sown, and that it was so directed purely
for my sustenance on that wild miserable place.
This touched my heart a little, and brought tears out of my eyes, and I
began to bless myself, that such a prodigy of nature should happen upon
my account; and this was the more strange to me, because I saw near it
still, all along by the side of the rock, some other straggling stalks,
which proved to be stalks of rice, and which I knew, because I had seen
it grow in Africa, when I was ashore there.
I not only thought these the pure productions of Providence for my
support, but not doubting but that there was more in the place, I went
all over that part of the island, where I had been before, peeping in
every corner and under every rock to see for more of it, but I could not
find any; at last it occurred to my thought, that I had shook a bag of
chicken’s meat out in that place, and then the wonder began to cease;
and I must confess, my religious thankfulness to God’s providence began
to abate too upon discovering that all this was nothing but what was
common; though I ought to have been as thankful for so strange and
unforeseen a providence as if it had been miraculous; for it was really
the work of Providence as to me, that should order or appoint ten or
twelve grains of corn to remain unspoiled, when the rats had destroyed
all the rest, as if it had been dropped from heaven: as also, that I
should throw it out in that particular place, where, it being in the
shade of a high rock, it sprang up immediately; whereas if I had thrown
it any were else at that time, it had been burnt up and destroyed.
I carefully saved the ears of corn, you may be sure, in their season,
which was about the end of June, and laying up every corn, I resolved to
sow them all again, hoping in time to have some quantity sufficient to
supply me with bread; but it was not till the fourth year that I could
allow myself the least grain of this corn to eat, and even then but
sparingly, as I shall say afterwards in its order; for I lost all that I
sowed the first season, by not observing the proper time; for I sowed it
just before the dry season, so that it never came up at all, at least
not as it would have done: of which in its place.
Besides this barley there were, as above, twenty or thirty stalks of
rice, which I preserved with the same care, and whose use was of the
same kind or to the same purpose, viz. to make me bread, or rather food;
for I found ways to cook it up without baking, though I did that also
after some time. But to return to my journal.
I worked excessive hard these three or four months to get my wall done;
and the 14th of April I closed it up, contriving to go into it, not by a
door, but over the wall by a ladder, that there might be no sign in the
outside of my habitation.
April 16. I finished the ladder; so I went up with the ladder to the
top, and then pulled it up after me, and let it down on the inside: this
was a complete enclosure to me; for within I had room enough, and
nothing could come at me from without, unless it could first mount
my wall.