confidence in God, which was founded upon such wonderful experience as
I had had of His goodness, now vanished, as if He that had fed me by
miracle hitherto could not preserve, by His power, the provision which
He had made for me by His goodness. I reproached myself with my
easiness, that would not sow any more corn one year than would just
serve me till the next season, as if no accident could intervene to
prevent my enjoying the crop that was upon the ground. And this I
thought so just a reproof that I resolved for the future to have two
or three years' corn beforehand, so that, whatever might come, I might
not perish for want of bread.
How strange a chequer work of Providence is the life of man! and by
what secret differing springs are the affections hurried about as
differing circumstances present! To-day we love what to-morrow we
hate; to-day we seek what to-morrow we shun; to-day we desire what
to-morrow we fear; nay, even tremble at the apprehensions of. This was
exemplified in me, at this time, in the most lively manner imaginable;
for I, whose only affliction was that I seemed banished from human
society, that I was alone, circumscribed by the boundless ocean, cut
off from mankind, and condemned to what I called silent life; that I
was as one whom Heaven thought not worthy to be numbered among the
living, or to appear among the rest of His creatures; that to have
seen one of my own species would have seemed to me a raising me from
death to life, and the greatest blessing that Heaven itself, next to
the supreme blessing of salvation, could bestow; I say, that I should
now tremble at the very apprehensions of seeing a man, and was ready
to sink into the ground at but the shadow or silent appearance of a
man's having set his foot in the island!
Such is the uneven state of human life; and it afforded me a great
many curious speculations afterwards, when I had a little recovered my
first surprise. I considered that this was the station of life the
infinitely wise and good providence of God had determined for me;
that, as I could not foresee what the ends of Divine wisdom might be
in all this, so I was not to dispute His sovereignty, who, as I was
His creature, had an undoubted right, by creation, to govern and
dispose of me absolutely as He thought fit, and who, as I was a
creature who had offended Him, had likewise a judicial right to
condemn me to what punishment He thought fit; and that it was my part
to submit to bear His indignation, because I had sinned against Him.
I then reflected that God, who was not only righteous, but omnipotent,
as He had thought fit thus to punish and afflict me, so He was able to
deliver me; that if He did not think fit to do it, 't was my
unquestioned duty to resign myself absolutely and entirely to His
will; and, on the other hand, it was my duty also to hope in Him, pray
to Him, and quietly to attend the dictates and directions of His daily
providence.
These thoughts took me up many hours, days, nay, I may say, weeks and
months; and one particular effect of my cogitations on this occasion I
cannot omit, viz., one morning early, lying in my bed, and filled with
thought about my danger from the appearance of savages, I found it
discomposed me very much; upon which those words of the Scripture came
into my thoughts, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."
Upon this, rising cheerfully out of my bed, my heart was not only
comforted, but I was guided and encouraged to pray earnestly to God
for deliverance. When I had done praying, I took up my Bible, and
opening it to read, the first words that presented to me were, "Wait
on the Lord, and be of good cheer, and He shall strengthen thy heart;
wait, I say, on the Lord." It is impossible to express the comfort
this gave me. In answer, I thankfully laid down the book, and was no
more sad, at least, not on that occasion.
In the middle of these cogitations, apprehensions, and reflections, it
came into my thought one day that all this might be a mere chimera of
my own; and that this foot might be the print of my own foot, when I
came on shore from my boat. This cheered me up a little too, and I
began to persuade myself it was all a delusion, that it was nothing
else but my own foot; and why might not I come that way from the boat,
as well as I was going that way to the boat? Again, I considered also
that I could by no means tell, for certain, where I had trod, and
where I had not; and that if, at last, this was only the print of my
own foot, I had played the part of those fools who strive to make
stories of spectres and apparitions, and then are frighted at them
more than anybody.
Now I began to take courage, and to peep abroad again, for I had not
stirred out of my castle for three days and nights, so that I began to
starve for provision; for I had little or nothing within doors but
some barley-cakes and water. Then I knew that my goats wanted to be
milked too, which usually was my evening diversion; and the poor
creatures were in great pain and inconvenience for want of it; and,
indeed, it almost spoiled some of them, and almost dried up their
milk.
Heartening myself, therefore, with the belief that this was nothing
but the print of one of my own feet, and so I might be truly said to
start at my own shadow, I began to go abroad again, and went to my
country house to milk my flock. But to see with what fear I went
forward, how often I looked behind me, how I was ready, every now and
then, to lay down my basket, and run for my life, it would have made
any one have thought I was haunted with an evil conscience, or that I
had been lately most terribly frighted; and so, indeed, I had.
However, as I went down thus two or three days, and having seen
nothing, I began to be a little bolder, and to think there was really
nothing in it but my own imagination. But I could not persuade myself
fully of this till I should go down to the shore again, and see this
print of a foot, and measure it by my own, and see if there was any
similitude or fitness, that I might be assured it was my own foot. But
when I came to the place, first, it appeared evidently to me that when
I laid up my boat, I could not possibly be on shore anywhere
thereabout; secondly, when I came to measure the mark with my own
foot, I found my foot not so large by a great deal. Both these things
filled my head with new imaginations, and gave me the vapors again to
the highest degree; so that I shook with cold, like one in an ague;
and I went home again, filled with the belief that some man or men had
been on shore there; or, in short, that the island was inhabited, and
I might be surprised before I was aware. And what course to take for
my security, I knew not.
Oh, what ridiculous resolution men take when possessed with fear! It
deprives them of the use of those means which reason offers for their
relief. The first thing I proposed to myself was to throw down my
enclosures, and turn all my tame cattle wild into the woods, that the
enemy might not find them, and then frequent the island in prospect of
the same or the like booty; then to the simple thing of digging up my
two corn-fields, that they might not find such a grain there, and
still be prompted to frequent the island; then to demolish my bower
and tent, that they might not see any vestiges of habitation, and be
prompted to look farther, in order to find out the persons inhabiting.
These were the subject of the first night's cogitation, after I was
come home again, while the apprehensions which had so overrun my mind
were fresh upon me, and my head was full of vapors, as above. Thus
fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger
itself when apparent to the eyes; and we find the burden of anxiety
greater, by much, than the evil which we are anxious about; and, which
was worse than all this, I had not that relief in this trouble from
the resignation I used to practice that I hoped to have. I looked, I
thought, like Saul, who complained not only that the Philistines were
upon him, but that God had forsaken him; for I did not now take due
ways to compose my mind, by crying to God in my distress, and resting
upon His providence, as I had done before, for my defense and
deliverance; which, if I had done, I had at least been more cheerfully
supported under this new surprise, and perhaps carried through it with
more resolution.
This confusion of my thoughts kept me waking all night, but in the
morning I fell asleep; and having, by the amusement of my mind, been,
as it were, tired, and my spirits exhausted, I slept very soundly, and
waked much better composed than I had ever been before. And now I
began to think sedately; and upon the utmost debate with myself, I
concluded that this island, which was so exceeding pleasant, fruitful,
and no farther from the mainland than as I had seen, was not so
entirely abandoned as I might imagine; that although there were no
stated inhabitants who lived on the spot, yet that there might
sometimes come boats off from the shore, who, either with design, or
perhaps never but when they were driven by cross winds, might come to
this place; that I had lived here fifteen years now, and had not met
with the least shadow or figure of any people yet; and that if at any
time they should be driven here, it was probable they went away again
as soon as ever they could, seeing they had never thought fit to fix
there upon any occasion to this time; that the most I could suggest
any danger from, was from any such casual accidental landing of
straggling people from the main, who, as it was likely, if they were
driven hither, were here against their wills; so they made no stay
here, but went off again with all possible speed, seldom staying one
night on shore, lest they should not have the help of the tides and
daylight back again; and that, therefore, I had nothing to do but to
consider of some safe retreat, in case I should see any savages land
upon the spot.
THE COMING OF FRIDAY
_By Daniel Defoe_
I was surprised, one morning early, with seeing no less than five
canoes all on shore together on my side the island, and the people who
belonged to them all landed, and out of my sight. The number of them
broke all my measures; for seeing so many, and knowing that they
always came four, or six, or sometimes more, in a boat, I could not
tell what to think of it, or how to take my measures to attack twenty
or thirty men single-handed; so I lay still in my castle, perplexed
and discomforted. However, I put myself into all the same postures for
an attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready for action
if anything had presented. Having waited a good while, listening to
hear if they made any noise, at length, being very impatient, I set my
guns at the foot of my ladder, and clambered up to the top of the
hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however, that my head
did not appear above the hill, so that they could not perceive me by
any means. Here I observed, by the help of my perspective glass, that
they were no less than thirty in number, that they had a fire kindled,
that they had had meat dressed. How they had cooked it, that I knew
not, or what it was; but they were all dancing, in I know not how many
barbarous gestures and figures, their own way, round the fire.
While I was thus looking on them, I perceived by my perspective two
miserable wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems, they were
laid by, and were now brought out for the slaughter. I perceived one
of them immediately fell, being knocked down, I suppose, with a club
or wooden sword, for that was their way, and two or three others were
at work immediately, cutting him open for their cookery, while the
other victim was left standing by himself, till they should be ready
for him. In that very moment, this poor wretch seeing himself a little
at liberty, Nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he started
away from them, and ran with incredible swiftness along the sands
directly towards me,--I mean towards that part of the coast where my
habitation was.
I was dreadfully frighted (that I must acknowledge) when I perceived
him to run my way, and especially when, as I thought, I saw him
pursued by the whole body; and now I expected that part of my dream
was coming to pass, and that he would certainly take shelter in my
grove; but I could not depend, by any means, upon my dream for the
rest of it, viz., that the other savages would not pursue him thither,
and find him there. However, I kept my station, and my spirits began
to recover when I found that there were not above three men that
followed him; and still more was I encouraged when I found that he
outstripped them exceedingly in running, and gained ground of them; so
that if he could but hold it for half an hour, I saw easily he would
fairly get away from them all.
There was between them and my castle the creek, which I mentioned
often at the first part of my story, when I landed my cargoes out of
the ship; and this I saw plainly he must necessarily swim over, or the
poor wretch would be taken there. But when the savage escaping came
thither he made nothing of it, though the tide was then up; but
plunging in, swam through in about thirty strokes or thereabouts,
landed, and ran on with exceeding strength and swiftness. When the
three persons came to the creek, I found that two of them could swim,
but the third could not, and that, standing on the other side, he
looked at the other, but went no further, and soon after went softly
back, which, as it happened, was very well for him in the main.
I observed that the two who swam were yet more than twice as long
swimming over the creek as the fellow was that fled from them. It came
now very warmly upon my thoughts, and indeed irresistibly, that now
was my time to get me a servant, and perhaps a companion or assistant,
and that I was called plainly by Providence to save this poor
creature's life. I immediately run down the ladders with all possible
expedition, fetched my two guns, for they were both but at the foot of
the ladders, as I observed above, and getting up again, with the same
haste, to the top of the hill, I crossed toward the sea, and having a
very short cut, and all down hill, clapped myself in the way between
the pursuers and the pursued, hallooing aloud to him that fled, who,
looking back, was at first perhaps as much frighted at me as at them;
but I beckoned with my hand to him to come back; and, in the meantime,
I slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then rushing at once
upon the foremost, I knocked him down with the stock of my piece. I
was loath to fire, because I would not have the rest hear; though, at
that distance, it would not have been easily heard, and being out of
sight of the smoke, too, they would not have easily known what to make
of it. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who pursued with him
stopped, as if he had been frighted, and I advanced apace towards him;
but as I came nearer, I perceived presently he had a bow and arrow,
and was fitting it to shoot at me; so I was then necessitated to shoot
at him first, which I did, and killed him at the first shot.
The poor savage who fled, but had stopped, though he saw both his
enemies fallen and killed, as he thought, yet was so frighted with the
fire and noise of my piece that he stood stock still, and neither came
forward or went backward, though he seemed rather inclined to fly
still than to come on. I hallooed again to him, and made signs to come
forward, which he easily understood, and came a little way, then
stopped again, and then a little further, and stopped again; and I
could then perceive that he stood trembling, as if he had been taken
prisoner, and had just been to be killed, as his two enemies were. I
beckoned him again to come to me, and gave him all the signs of
encouragement that I could think of; and he came nearer and nearer,
kneeling down every ten or twelve steps, in token of acknowledgment
for my saving his life. I smiled at him, and looked pleasantly, and
beckoned to him to come still nearer. At length he came close to me,
and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground, and laid his head
upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head.
This, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my slave forever. I
took him up, and made much of him, and encouraged him all I could. But
there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the savage whom I
knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the blow, and began to
come to himself; so I pointed to him, and showing him the savage, that
he was not dead, upon this he spoke some words to me; and though I
could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hear;
for they were the first sound of a man's voice that I had heard, my
own excepted, for above twenty-five years. But there was no time for
such reflections now. The savage who was knocked down recovered
himself so far as to sit up upon the ground, and I perceived that my
savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, I presented my other
piece at the man, as if I would shoot him. Upon this my savage, for so
I call him now, made a motion to me to lend him my sword, which hung
naked in a belt by my side; so I did. He no sooner had it but he runs
to his enemy, and, at one blow, cut off his head as cleverly, no
executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better; which I
thought very strange for one who, I had reason to believe, never saw a
sword in his life before, except their own wooden swords. However, it
seems, as I learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords so
sharp, so heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will cut off heads
even with them, ay, and arms, and that at one blow too. When he had
done this, he comes laughing to me in sign of triumph, and brought me
the sword again, and with abundance of gestures, which I did not
understand, laid it down, with the head of the savage that he had
killed, just before me.
But that which astonished him most was to know how I had killed the
other Indian so far off; so pointing to him, he made signs to me to
let him go to him; so I bade him go, as well as I could. When he came
to him, he stood like one amazed, looking at him, turned him first on
one side, then on t'other, looked at the wound the bullet had made,
which, it seems, was just in his breast, where it had made a hole, and
no great quantity of blood had followed; but he had bled inwardly, for
he was quite dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and came back; so I
turned to go away, and beckoned to him to follow me, making signs to
him that more might come after them.
Upon this he signed to me that he should bury them with sand, that
they might not be seen by the rest if they followed; and so I made
signs again to him to do so. He fell to work, and in an instant he had
scraped a hole in the sand with his hands big enough to bury the first
in, and then dragged him into it, and covered him, and did so also by
the other. I believe he had buried them both in a quarter of an hour.
Then calling him away, I carried him, not to my castle, but quite away
to my cave, on the farther part of the island; so I did not let my
dream come to pass in that part, viz., that he came into my grove for
shelter.
Here I gave him bread and a bunch of raisins to eat, and a draught of
water, which I found he was indeed in great distress for, by his
running; and having refreshed him, I made signs for him to go lie down
and sleep, pointing to a place where I had laid a great parcel of
rice-straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used to sleep upon myself
sometimes; so the poor creature laid down, and went to sleep.
He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight
strong limbs, not too large, tall and well-shaped, and, as I reckon,
about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a
fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to have something very manly in
his face; and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of an European
in his countenance too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long
and black, not curled like wool; his forehead very high and large; and
a great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes. The color of his
skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not of an ugly,
yellow, nauseous tawny, as the Brazilians and Virginians, and other
natives of America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive color,
that had in it something very agreeable, though not very easy to
describe. His face was round and plump; his nose small, not flat like
the negroes; a very good mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well
set, and white as ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half an hour, he
waked again, and comes out of the cave to me, for I had been milking
my goats, which I had in the enclosure just by. When he espied me, he
came running to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with
all the possible signs of an humble, thankful disposition, making a
many antic gestures to show it. At last he lays his head flat upon the
ground, close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as he
had done before, and after this made all the signs to me of
subjection, servitude, and submission imaginable, to let me know how
he would serve me as long as he lived. I understood him in many
things, and let him know I was very well pleased with him. In a little
time I began to speak to him, and teach him to speak to me; and first
I made him know his name should be Friday, which was the day I saved
his life. I called him so for the memory of the time. I likewise
taught him to say master, and then let him know that was to be my
name. I likewise taught him to say yes and no, and to know the meaning
of them. I gave him some milk in an earthen pot, and let him see me
drink it before him, and sop my bread in it; and I gave him a cake of
bread to do the like, which he quickly complied with, and made signs
that it was very good for him.
I kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it was day, I
beckoned to him to come with me, and let him know I would give him
some clothes; at which he seemed very glad, for he was stark naked. As
we went by the place where he had buried the two men, he pointed
exactly to the place, and showed me the marks that he had made to find
them again, making signs to me that we should dig them up again, and
eat them. At this I appeared very angry, expressed my abhorrence of
it, made as if I would vomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned with
my hand to him to come away; which he did immediately, with great
submission. I then led him up to the top of the hill, to see if his
enemies were gone; and pulling out my glass, I looked, and saw plainly
the place where they had been, but no appearance of them or of their
canoes; so that it was plain that they were gone, and had left their
two comrades behind them, without any search after them.
But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more
courage, and consequently more curiosity, I took my man Friday with
me, giving him the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows at his
back, which I found he could use very dexterously, making him carry
one gun for me, and I two for myself, and away we marched to the place
where these creatures had been; for I had a mind now to get some
fuller intelligence of them. When I came to the place, my very blood
ran chill in my veins, and my heart sunk within me, at the horror of
the spectacle. Indeed, it was a dreadful sight, at least it was so to
me, though Friday made nothing of it. The place was covered with human
bones, the ground dyed with their blood, great pieces of flesh left
here and there, half-eaten, mangled, and scorched; and, in short, all
the tokens of the triumphant feast they had been making there, after a
victory over their enemies. I saw three skulls, five hands, and the
bones of three or four legs and feet, and abundance of other parts of
the bodies; and Friday, by his signs, made me understand that they
brought over four prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were
eaten up, and that he, pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there
had been a great battle between them and their next king, whose
subjects it seems he had been one of, and that they had taken a great
number of prisoners; all which were carried to several places by those
that had taken them in the fight, in order to feast upon them, as was
done here by these wretches upon those they brought hither.
I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and whatever
remained, and lay them together on a heap, and make a great fire upon
it, and burn them all to ashes. I found Friday had still a hankering
stomach after some of the flesh, and was still a cannibal in his
nature; but I discovered so much abhorrence at the very thoughts of
it, and at the least appearance of it, that he durst not discover it;
for I had, by some means, let him know that I would kill him if he
offered it.