The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe
into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, the biggest end
being out of the ground above five feet and a half, and sharpened on
the top. The two rows did not stand above six inches from one another.
Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship, and laid
them in rows, one upon another, within the circle, between these two
rows of stakes, up to the top, placing other stakes in the inside,
leaning against them, about two feet and a half high, like a spur to a
post; and this fence was so strong, that neither man nor beast could
get into it or over it. This cost me a great deal of time and labour,
especially to cut the piles in the woods, bring them to the place, and
drive them into the earth.
The entrance into this place I made to be, not by a door, but by a
short ladder to go over the top; which ladder, when I was in, I lifted
over after me; and so I was completely fenced in and fortified, as I
thought, from all the world, and consequently slept secure in the
night, which otherwise I could not have done; though, as it appeared
afterwards, there was no need of all this caution from the enemies that
I apprehended danger from.
Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all my
riches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which you have
the account above; and I made a large tent, which to preserve me from
the rains that in one part of the year are very violent there, I made
double—one smaller tent within, and one larger tent above it; and
covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which I had saved among
the sails.
And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought on
shore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a very good one, and belonged
to the mate of the ship.
Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything that would
spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, I made up the
entrance, which till now I had left open, and so passed and repassed,
as I said, by a short ladder.
When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, and
bringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through my tent,
I laid them up within my fence, in the nature of a terrace, so that it
raised the ground within about a foot and a half; and thus I made me a
cave, just behind my tent, which served me like a cellar to my house.
It cost me much labour and many days before all these things were
brought to perfection; and therefore I must go back to some other
things which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time it happened,
after I had laid my scheme for the setting up my tent, and making the
cave, that a storm of rain falling from a thick, dark cloud, a sudden
flash of lightning happened, and after that a great clap of thunder, as
is naturally the effect of it. I was not so much surprised with the
lightning as I was with the thought which darted into my mind as swift
as the lightning itself—Oh, my powder! My very heart sank within me
when I thought that, at one blast, all my powder might be destroyed; on
which, not my defence only, but the providing my food, as I thought,
entirely depended. I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger,
though, had the powder took fire, I should never have known who had
hurt me.
Such impression did this make upon me, that after the storm was over I
laid aside all my works, my building and fortifying, and applied myself
to make bags and boxes, to separate the powder, and to keep it a little
and a little in a parcel, in the hope that, whatever might come, it
might not all take fire at once; and to keep it so apart that it should
not be possible to make one part fire another. I finished this work in
about a fortnight; and I think my powder, which in all was about two
hundred and forty pounds weight, was divided in not less than a hundred
parcels. As to the barrel that had been wet, I did not apprehend any
danger from that; so I placed it in my new cave, which, in my fancy, I
called my kitchen; and the rest I hid up and down in holes among the
rocks, so that no wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I
laid it.
In the interval of time while this was doing, I went out once at least
every day with my gun, as well to divert myself as to see if I could
kill anything fit for food; and, as near as I could, to acquaint myself
with what the island produced. The first time I went out, I presently
discovered that there were goats in the island, which was a great
satisfaction to me; but then it was attended with this misfortune to
me—viz. that they were so shy, so subtle, and so swift of foot, that it
was the most difficult thing in the world to come at them; but I was
not discouraged at this, not doubting but I might now and then shoot
one, as it soon happened; for after I had found their haunts a little,
I laid wait in this manner for them: I observed if they saw me in the
valleys, though they were upon the rocks, they would run away, as in a
terrible fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I was
upon the rocks, they took no notice of me; from whence I concluded
that, by the position of their optics, their sight was so directed
downward that they did not readily see objects that were above them; so
afterwards I took this method—I always climbed the rocks first, to get
above them, and then had frequently a fair mark.
The first shot I made among these creatures, I killed a she-goat, which
had a little kid by her, which she gave suck to, which grieved me
heartily; for when the old one fell, the kid stood stock still by her,
till I came and took her up; and not only so, but when I carried the
old one with me, upon my shoulders, the kid followed me quite to my
enclosure; upon which I laid down the dam, and took the kid in my arms,
and carried it over my pale, in hopes to have bred it up tame; but it
would not eat; so I was forced to kill it and eat it myself. These two
supplied me with flesh a great while, for I ate sparingly, and saved my
provisions, my bread especially, as much as possibly I could.
Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary to
provide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn: and what I did for
that, and also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences I made, I
shall give a full account of in its place; but I must now give some
little account of myself, and of my thoughts about living, which, it
may well be supposed, were not a few.
I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast away
upon that island without being driven, as is said, by a violent storm,
quite out of the course of our intended voyage, and a great way, viz.
some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary course of the trade of
mankind, I had great reason to consider it as a determination of
Heaven, that in this desolate place, and in this desolate manner, I
should end my life. The tears would run plentifully down my face when I
made these reflections; and sometimes I would expostulate with myself
why Providence should thus completely ruin His creatures, and render
them so absolutely miserable; so without help, abandoned, so entirely
depressed, that it could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a
life.
But something always returned swift upon me to check these thoughts,
and to reprove me; and particularly one day, walking with my gun in my
hand by the seaside, I was very pensive upon the subject of my present
condition, when reason, as it were, expostulated with me the other way,
thus: “Well, you are in a desolate condition, it is true; but, pray
remember, where are the rest of you? Did not you come, eleven of you in
the boat? Where are the ten? Why were they not saved, and you lost? Why
were you singled out? Is it better to be here or there?” And then I
pointed to the sea. All evils are to be considered with the good that
is in them, and with what worse attends them.
Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for my
subsistence, and what would have been my case if it had not happened
(which was a hundred thousand to one) that the ship floated from the
place where she first struck, and was driven so near to the shore that
I had time to get all these things out of her; what would have been my
case, if I had been forced to have lived in the condition in which I at
first came on shore, without necessaries of life, or necessaries to
supply and procure them? “Particularly,” said I, aloud (though to
myself), “what should I have done without a gun, without ammunition,
without any tools to make anything, or to work with, without clothes,
bedding, a tent, or any manner of covering?” and that now I had all
these to sufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to provide myself
in such a manner as to live without my gun, when my ammunition was
spent: so that I had a tolerable view of subsisting, without any want,
as long as I lived; for I considered from the beginning how I would
provide for the accidents that might happen, and for the time that was
to come, even not only after my ammunition should be spent, but even
after my health and strength should decay.
I confess I had not entertained any notion of my ammunition being
destroyed at one blast—I mean my powder being blown up by lightning;
and this made the thoughts of it so surprising to me, when it lightened
and thundered, as I observed just now.
And now being about to enter into a melancholy relation of a scene of
silent life, such, perhaps, as was never heard of in the world before,
I shall take it from its beginning, and continue it in its order. It
was by my account the 30th of September, when, in the manner as above
said, I first set foot upon this horrid island; when the sun, being to
us in its autumnal equinox, was almost over my head; for I reckoned
myself, by observation, to be in the latitude of nine degrees
twenty-two minutes north of the line.
After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into my
thoughts that I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books, and
pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days; but to prevent
this, I cut with my knife upon a large post, in capital letters—and
making it into a great cross, I set it up on the shore where I first
landed—“I came on shore here on the 30th September 1659.”
Upon the sides of this square post I cut every day a notch with my
knife, and every seventh notch was as long again as the rest, and every
first day of the month as long again as that long one; and thus I kept
my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoning of time.
In the next place, we are to observe that among the many things which I
brought out of the ship, in the several voyages which, as above
mentioned, I made to it, I got several things of less value, but not at
all less useful to me, which I omitted setting down before; as, in
particular, pens, ink, and paper, several parcels in the captain’s,
mate’s, gunner’s and carpenter’s keeping; three or four compasses, some
mathematical instruments, dials, perspectives, charts, and books of
navigation, all which I huddled together, whether I might want them or
no; also, I found three very good Bibles, which came to me in my cargo
from England, and which I had packed up among my things; some
Portuguese books also; and among them two or three Popish prayer-books,
and several other books, all which I carefully secured. And I must not
forget that we had in the ship a dog and two cats, of whose eminent
history I may have occasion to say something in its place; for I
carried both the cats with me; and as for the dog, he jumped out of the
ship of himself, and swam on shore to me the day after I went on shore
with my first cargo, and was a trusty servant to me many years; I
wanted nothing that he could fetch me, nor any company that he could