musing had, as it were, resolved them all into nothing, for want of an
occasion to put them into execution,) 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 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 any thing 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, and that they had meat dressed. How they had
cooked it 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 fall, 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, and unbound, 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 frightened, I must acknowledge, when
I perceived him 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 was 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
in the first part of my story, where 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 others, but
went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it
happened, was very well for him in the end. 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 the 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
ran down the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns,
for they were both 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
towards the sea, and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed
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
frightened at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come
back; and, in the mean time, 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 loth 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 him stopped, as if he had been frightened, 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 frightened
with the fire and noise of my piece, that he stood stock-still, and
neither came forward nor went backward, though he seemed rather inclined
still to fly, 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 farther, 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 to
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 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 for ever. 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 showed 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, which I did. He no sooner
had it, but he runs to his enemy, and, at one blow, cut off his head so
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, aye, 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 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, turning
him first on one side, then on the 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 him to follow me, making
signs to him that more might come after them. Upon this, he made signs
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 to him again 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 by the other also: 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 and lie down to sleep, showing him a place
where I had laid some rice-straw, and a blanket upon it, which I used to
sleep upon myself sometimes; so the poor creature lay 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 colour of his
skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not 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 colour, 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 as white as ivory.
After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half an hour, he awoke
again, and came 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 great 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 so 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 let 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 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 their canoes; so that it was plain 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, and 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 subject, 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 who 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 in 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.
When he had done this, we came back to our castle; and there I fell to
work for my man Friday: and, first of all, I gave him a pair of linen
drawers, which I had out of the poor gunner's chest I mentioned, which I
found in the wreck; and which, with a little alteration, fitted him very
well: and then I made him a jerkin of goat's-skin, as well as my skill
would allow (for I was now grown a tolerable good tailor;) and I gave
him a cap, which I made of hare's-skin, very convenient and fashionable
enough: and thus he was clothed for the present, tolerably well, and was
mighty well pleased to see himself almost as well clothed as his master.
It is true, he went awkwardly in these clothes at first; wearing the
drawers was very awkward to him; and the sleeves of the waistcoat
galled his shoulders, and the inside of his arms; but a little easing
them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself to them, he
took to them at length very well.
The next day after I came home to my hutch with him, I began to consider
where I should lodge him; and that I might do well for him, and yet be
perfectly easy myself, I made a little tent for him in the vacant place
between my two fortifications, in the inside of the last and in the
outside of the first. As there was a door or entrance there into my
cave, I made a formal framed door case, and a door to it of boards, and
set it up in the passage, a little within the entrance; and causing the
door to open in the inside, I barred it up in the night, taking in my
ladders too; so that Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my
innermost wall, without making so much noise in getting over that it
must needs waken me; for my first wall had now a complete roof over it
of long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to the side of the
hill; which was again laid across with smaller sticks, instead of laths,
and then thatched over a great thickness with the rice-straw, which was
strong, like reeds; and at the hole or place which was left to go in or
out by the ladder, I had placed a kind of trap-door, which, if it had
been attempted on the outside, would not have opened at all, but would
have fallen down, and make a great noise: as to weapons, I took them all
into my side every night. But I needed none of all this precaution; for
never man had a more faithful, loving, sincere servant, than Friday was
to me; without passions, sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and
engaged; his very affections were tied to me, like those of a child to a
father; and I dare say, he would have sacrificed his life for the saving
mine, upon any occasion whatsoever: the many testimonies he gave me of
this put it out of doubt, and soon convinced me that I needed to use no
precautions, as to my safety on his account.
This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that
however it had pleased God, in his providence, and in the government of
the works of his hands, to take from so great a part of the world of his
creatures the best uses to which their faculties and the powers of their
souls are adapted, yet that he has bestowed upon them the same powers,
the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of kindness
and obligation, the same passions and resentments of wrongs, the same
sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities of doing
good, and receiving good, that he has given to us; and that when he
pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as ready,
nay, more ready, to apply them to the right uses for which they were
bestowed, than we are. This made me very melancholy sometimes, in
reflecting, as the several occasions presented, how mean a use we make
of all these, even though we have these powers enlightened by the great
lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God, and by the knowledge of his word
added to our understanding; and why it has pleased God to hide the like
saving knowledge from so many millions of souls, who, if I might judge
by this poor savage, would make a much better use of it than we did.
From hence, I sometimes was led too far, to invade the sovereignty of
Providence, and as it were arraign the justice of so arbitrary a
disposition of things, that should hide that light from some, and reveal
it to others, and yet expect a like duty from both; but I shut it up,
and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: first, That we did not
know by what light and law these should be condemned; but that as God
was necessarily, and, by the nature of his being, infinitely holy and
just, so it could not be, but if these creatures were all sentenced to
absence from himself, it was on account of sinning against that light,
which, as the Scripture says, was a law to themselves, and by such rules
as their consciences would acknowledge to be just, though the foundation
was not discovered to us; and, secondly, That still, as we all are the
clay in the hand of the potter, no vessel could say to him, "Why hast
thou formed me thus?"
But to return to my new companion:--I was greatly delighted with him,
and made it my business to teach him every thing that was proper to make
him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and
understand me when I spoke: and he was the aptest scholar that ever was;
and particularly was so merry, so constantly diligent, and so pleased
when he could but understand me, or make me understand him, that it was
very pleasant to me to talk to him. Now my life began to be so easy,
that I began to say to myself, that could I but have been safe from more
savages, I cared not if I was never to remove from the place where
I lived.
After I had been two or three days returned to my castle, I thought
that, in order to bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding, and
from the relish of a cannibal's stomach, I ought to let him taste other
flesh; so I took him out with me one morning to the woods. I went,
indeed, intending to kill a kid out of my own flock, and bring it home
and dress it; but as I was going, I saw a she-goat lying down in the
shade, and two young kids sitting by her. I catched hold of
Friday;--Hold, said I; stand still; and made signs to him not to stir:
immediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed one of the kids. The
poor creature, who had, at a distance, indeed, seen me kill the savage,
his enemy, but did not know, nor could imagine, how it was done, was
sensibly surprised, trembled and shook, and looked so amazed, that I
thought he would have sunk down. He did not see the kid I shot at, or
perceive I had killed it, but ripped up his waistcoat, to feel whether
he was not wounded; and, as I found presently, thought I was resolved to
kill him: for he came and kneeled down to me, and embracing my knees,
said a great many things I did not understand; but I could easily see
the meaning was, to pray me not to kill him.
I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm; and
taking him up by the hand, laughed at him, and pointing to the kid which
I had killed, beckoned to him to run and fetch it, which he did: and
while he was wondering, and looking to see how the creature was killed,
I loaded my gun again. By and by, I saw a great fowl, like a hawk,
sitting upon a tree, within shot; so, to let Friday understand a little
what I would do, I called him to me again, pointed at the fowl, which
was indeed a parrot, though I thought it had been a hawk; I say,
pointing to the parrot, and to my gun, and to the ground under the
parrot, to let him see I would make it fall, I made him understand that
I would shoot and kill that bird; accordingly, I fired, and bade him
look, and immediately he saw the parrot fall. He stood like one
frightened again, notwithstanding all I had said to him; and I found he
was the more amazed, because he did not see me put any thing into the
gun, but thought that there must be some wonderful fund of death and
destruction in that thing, able to kill man, beast, bird, or any thing
near or far off; and the astonishment this created in him was such, as
could not wear off for a long time; and I believe, if I would have let
him, he would have worshipped me and my gun. As for the gun itself, he
would not so much as touch it for several days after; but he would speak
to it, and talk to it, as if it had answered him, when he was by
himself; which, as I afterwards learned of him, was to desire it not to
kill him. Well, after his astonishment was a little over at this, I
pointed to him to run and fetch the bird I had shot, which he did, but
staid some time; for the parrot, not being quite dead, had fluttered
away a good distance from the place where she fell: however, he found
her, took her up, and brought her to me; and as I had perceived his
ignorance about the gun before, I took this advantage to charge the gun
again, and not to let him see me do it, that I might be ready for any
other mark that might present; but nothing more offered at that time: so
I brought home the kid, and the same evening I took the skin off, and
cut it out as well as I could; and having a pot fit for that purpose, I
boiled or stewed some of the flesh, and made some very good broth. After
I had begun to eat some, I gave some to my man, who seemed very glad of
it, and liked it very well; but that which was strangest to him, was to
see me eat salt with it. He made a sign to me that the salt was not good
to eat; and putting a little into his own mouth, he seemed to nauseate
it, and would spit and sputter at it, washing his mouth with fresh water
after it: on the other hand, I took some meat into my mouth without
salt, and I pretended to spit and sputter for want of salt, as fast as
he had done at the salt; but it would not do; he would never care for
salt with his meat or in his broth; at least, not for a great while, and
then but a very little.
Having thus fed him with boiled meat and broth, I was resolved to feast
him the next day with roasting a piece of the kid: this I did, by
hanging it before the fire on a string, as I had seen many people do in
England, setting two poles up, one on each side of the fire, and one
across on the top, and tying the string to the cross stick, letting the
meat turn continually. This Friday admired very much; but when he came
to taste the flesh, he took so many ways to tell me how well he liked
it, that I could not but understand him: and at last he told me, as well
as he could, he would never eat man's flesh any more, which I was very
glad to hear.