Chapter 7: Agricultural Experience

by Daniel Defoe

　　I had now been in this unhappy island above ten months. Allpossibility of deliverance from this condition seemed to beentirely taken from me; and I firmly believe that no human shapehad ever set foot upon that place. Having now secured myhabitation, as I thought, fully to my mind, I had a great desire tomake a more perfect discovery of the island, and to see what otherproductions I might find, which I yet knew nothing of.It was on the 15th of July that I began to take a more particularsurvey of the island itself. I went up the creek first, where, asI hinted, I brought my rafts on shore. I found after I came abouttwo miles up, that the tide did not flow any higher, and that itwas no more than a little brook of running water, very fresh andgood; but this being the dry season, there was hardly any water insome parts of it - at least not enough to run in any stream, so asit could be perceived. On the banks of this brook I found manypleasant savannahs or meadows, plain, smooth, and covered withgrass; and on the rising parts of them, next to the higher grounds,where the water, as might be supposed, never overflowed, I found agreat deal of tobacco, green, and growing to a great and verystrong stalk. There were divers other plants, which I had nonotion of or understanding about, that might, perhaps, have virtuesof their own, which I could not find out. I searched for thecassava root, which the Indians, in all that climate, make theirbread of, but I could find none. I saw large plants of aloes, butdid not understand them. I saw several sugar-canes, but wild, and,for want of cultivation, imperfect. I contented myself with thesediscoveries for this time, and came back, musing with myself whatcourse I might take to know the virtue and goodness of any of thefruits or plants which I should discover, but could bring it to noconclusion; for, in short, I had made so little observation while Iwas in the Brazils, that I knew little of the plants in the field;at least, very little that might serve to any purpose now in mydistress.The next day, the sixteenth, I went up the same way again; andafter going something further than I had gone the day before, Ifound the brook and the savannahs cease, and the country becomemore woody than before. In this part I found different fruits, andparticularly I found melons upon the ground, in great abundance,and grapes upon the trees. The vines had spread, indeed, over thetrees, and the clusters of grapes were just now in their prime,very ripe and rich. This was a surprising discovery, and I wasexceeding glad of them; but I was warned by my experience to eatsparingly of them; remembering that when I was ashore in Barbary,the eating of grapes killed several of our Englishmen, who wereslaves there, by throwing them into fluxes and fevers. But I foundan excellent use for these grapes; and that was, to cure or drythem in the sun, and keep them as dried grapes or raisins are kept,which I thought would be, as indeed they were, wholesome andagreeable to eat when no grapes could be had.I spent all that evening there, and went not back to my habitation;which, by the way, was the first night, as I might say, I had lainfrom home. In the night, I took my first contrivance, and got upin a tree, where I slept well; and the next morning proceeded uponmy discovery; travelling nearly four miles, as I might judge by thelength of the valley, keeping still due north, with a ridge ofhills on the south and north side of me. At the end of this marchI came to an opening where the country seemed to descend to thewest; and a little spring of fresh water, which issued out of theside of the hill by me, ran the other way, that is, due east; andthe country appeared so fresh, so green, so flourishing, everythingbeing in a constant verdure or flourish of spring that it lookedlike a planted garden. I descended a little on the side of thatdelicious vale, surveying it with a secret kind of pleasure, thoughmixed with my other afflicting thoughts, to think that this was allmy own; that I was king and lord of all this country indefensibly,and had a right of possession; and if I could convey it, I mighthave it in inheritance as completely as any lord of a manor inEngland. I saw here abundance of cocoa trees, orange, and lemon,and citron trees; but all wild, and very few bearing any fruit, atleast not then. However, the green limes that I gathered were notonly pleasant to eat, but very wholesome; and I mixed their juiceafterwards with water, which made it very wholesome, and very cooland refreshing. I found now I had business enough to gather andcarry home; and I resolved to lay up a store as well of grapes aslimes and lemons, to furnish myself for the wet season, which Iknew was approaching. In order to do this, I gathered a great heapof grapes in one place, a lesser heap in another place, and a greatparcel of limes and lemons in another place; and taking a few ofeach with me, I travelled homewards; resolving to come again, andbring a bag or sack, or what I could make, to carry the rest home.Accordingly, having spent three days in this journey, I came home(so I must now call my tent and my cave); but before I got thitherthe grapes were spoiled; the richness of the fruit and the weightof the juice having broken them and bruised them, they were goodfor little or nothing; as to the limes, they were good, but I couldbring but a few.The next day, being the nineteenth, I went back, having made me twosmall bags to bring home my harvest; but I was surprised, whencoming to my heap of grapes, which were so rich and fine when Igathered them, to find them all spread about, trod to pieces, anddragged about, some here, some there, and abundance eaten anddevoured. By this I concluded there were some wild creaturesthereabouts, which had done this; but what they were I knew not.However, as I found there was no laying them up on heaps, and nocarrying them away in a sack, but that one way they would bedestroyed, and the other way they would be crushed with their ownweight, I took another course; for I gathered a large quantity ofthe grapes, and hung them trees, that they might cure and dry inthe sun; and as for the limes and lemons, I carried as many back asI could well stand under.When I came home from this journey, I contemplated with greatpleasure the fruitfulness of that valley, and the pleasantness ofthe situation; the security from storms on that side of the water,and the wood: and concluded that I had pitched upon a place to fixmy abode which was by far the worst part of the country. Upon thewhole, I began to consider of removing my habitation, and lookingout for a place equally safe as where now I was situate, ifpossible, in that pleasant, fruitful part of the island.This thought ran long in my head, and I was exceeding fond of itfor some time, the pleasantness of the place tempting me; but whenI came to a nearer view of it, I considered that I was now by theseaside, where it was at least possible that something might happento my advantage, and, by the same ill fate that brought me hithermight bring some other unhappy wretches to the same place; andthough it was scarce probable that any such thing should everhappen, yet to enclose myself among the hills and woods in thecentre of the island was to anticipate my bondage, and to rendersuch an affair not only improbable, but impossible; and thattherefore I ought not by any means to remove. However, I was soenamoured of this place, that I spent much of my time there for thewhole of the remaining part of the month of July; and though uponsecond thoughts, I resolved not to remove, yet I built me a littlekind of a bower, and surrounded it at a distance with a strongfence, being a double hedge, as high as I could reach, well stakedand filled between with brushwood; and here I lay very secure,sometimes two or three nights together; always going over it with aladder; so that I fancied now I had my country house and my sea-coast house; and this work took me up to the beginning of August.I had but newly finished my fence, and began to enjoy my labour,when the rains came on, and made me stick close to my firsthabitation; for though I had made me a tent like the other, with apiece of a sail, and spread it very well, yet I had not the shelterof a hill to keep me from storms, nor a cave behind me to retreatinto when the rains were extraordinary.About the beginning of August, as I said, I had finished my bower,and began to enjoy myself. The 3rd of August, I found the grapes Ihad hung up perfectly dried, and, indeed, were excellent goodraisins of the sun; so I began to take them down from the trees,and it was very happy that I did so, for the rains which followedwould have spoiled them, and I had lost the best part of my winterfood; for I had above two hundred large bunches of them. No soonerhad I taken them all down, and carried the most of them home to mycave, than it began to rain; and from hence, which was the 14th ofAugust, it rained, more or less, every day till the middle ofOctober; and sometimes so violently, that I could not stir out ofmy cave for several days.In this season I was much surprised with the increase of my family;I had been concerned for the loss of one of my cats, who ran awayfrom me, or, as I thought, had been dead, and I heard no moretidings of her till, to my astonishment, she came home about theend of August with three kittens. This was the more strange to mebecause, though I had killed a wild cat, as I called it, with mygun, yet I thought it was quite a different kind from our Europeancats; but the young cats were the same kind of house-breed as theold one; and both my cats being females, I thought it very strange.But from these three cats I afterwards came to be so pestered withcats that I was forced to kill them like vermin or wild beasts, andto drive them from my house as much as possible.From the 14th of August to the 26th, incessant rain, so that Icould not stir, and was now very careful not to be much wet. Inthis confinement, I began to be straitened for food: but venturingout twice, I one day killed a goat; and the last day, which was the26th, found a very large tortoise, which was a treat to me, and myfood was regulated thus: I ate a bunch of raisins for my breakfast;a piece of the goat's flesh, or of the turtle, for my dinner,broiled - for, to my great misfortune, I had no vessel to boil orstew anything; and two or three of the turtle's eggs for my supper.During this confinement in my cover by the rain, I worked daily twoor three hours at enlarging my cave, and by degrees worked it ontowards one side, till I came to the outside of the hill, and madea door or way out, which came beyond my fence or wall; and so Icame in and out this way. But I was not perfectly easy at lying soopen; for, as I had managed myself before, I was in a perfectenclosure; whereas now I thought I lay exposed, and open foranything to come in upon me; and yet I could not perceive thatthere was any living thing to fear, the biggest creature that I hadyet seen upon the island being a goat.SEPT. 30. - I was now come to the unhappy anniversary of mylanding. I cast up the notches on my post, and found I had been onshore three hundred and sixty-five days. I kept this day as asolemn fast, setting it apart for religious exercise, prostratingmyself on the ground with the most serious humiliation, confessingmy sins to God, acknowledging His righteous judgments upon me, andpraying to Him to have mercy on me through Jesus Christ; and nothaving tasted the least refreshment for twelve hours, even till thegoing down of the sun, I then ate a biscuit-cake and a bunch ofgrapes, and went to bed, finishing the day as I began it. I hadall this time observed no Sabbath day; for as at first I had nosense of religion upon my mind, I had, after some time, omitted todistinguish the weeks, by making a longer notch than ordinary forthe Sabbath day, and so did not really know what any of the dayswere; but now, having cast up the days as above, I found I had beenthere a year; so I divided it into weeks, and set apart everyseventh day for a Sabbath; though I found at the end of my accountI had lost a day or two in my reckoning. A little after this, myink began to fail me, and so I contented myself to use it moresparingly, and to write down only the most remarkable events of mylife, without continuing a daily memorandum of other things.The rainy season and the dry season began now to appear regular tome, and I learned to divide them so as to provide for themaccordingly; but I bought all my experience before I had it, andthis I am going to relate was one of the most discouragingexperiments that I made.I have mentioned that I had saved the few ears of barley and rice,which I had so surprisingly found spring up, as I thought, ofthemselves, and I believe there were about thirty stalks of rice,and about twenty of barley; and now I thought it a proper time tosow it, after the rains, the sun being in its southern position,going from me. Accordingly, I dug up a piece of ground as well asI could with my wooden spade, and dividing it into two parts, Isowed my grain; but as I was sowing, it casually occurred to mythoughts that I would not sow it all at first, because I did notknow when was the proper time for it, so I sowed about two-thirdsof the seed, leaving about a handful of each. It was a greatcomfort to me afterwards that I did so, for not one grain of what Isowed this time came to anything: for the dry months following, theearth having had no rain after the seed was sown, it had nomoisture to assist its growth, and never came up at all till thewet season had come again, and then it grew as if it had been butnewly sown. Finding my first seed did not grow, which I easilyimagined was by the drought, I sought for a moister piece of groundto make another trial in, and I dug up a piece of ground near mynew bower, and sowed the rest of my seed in February, a littlebefore the vernal equinox; and this having the rainy months ofMarch and April to water it, sprung up very pleasantly, and yieldeda very good crop; but having part of the seed left only, and notdaring to sow all that I had, I had but a small quantity at last,my whole crop not amounting to above half a peck of each kind. Butby this experiment I was made master of my business, and knewexactly when the proper season was to sow, and that I might expecttwo seed-times and two harvests every year.While this corn was growing I made a little discovery, which was ofuse to me afterwards. As soon as the rains were over, and theweather began to settle, which was about the month of November, Imade a visit up the country to my bower, where, though I had notbeen some months, yet I found all things just as I left them. Thecircle or double hedge that I had made was not only firm andentire, but the stakes which I had cut out of some trees that grewthereabouts were all shot out and grown with long branches, as muchas a willow-tree usually shoots the first year after lopping itshead. I could not tell what tree to call it that these stakes werecut from. I was surprised, and yet very well pleased, to see theyoung trees grow; and I pruned them, and led them up to grow asmuch alike as I could; and it is scarce credible how beautiful afigure they grew into in three years; so that though the hedge madea circle of about twenty-five yards in diameter, yet the trees, forsuch I might now call them, soon covered it, and it was a completeshade, sufficient to lodge under all the dry season. This made meresolve to cut some more stakes, and make me a hedge like this, ina semi-circle round my wall (I mean that of my first dwelling),which I did; and placing the trees or stakes in a double row, atabout eight yards distance from my first fence, they grewpresently, and were at first a fine cover to my habitation, andafterwards served for a defence also, as I shall observe in itsorder.I found now that the seasons of the year might generally bedivided, not into summer and winter, as in Europe, but into therainy seasons and the dry seasons, which were generally thus:- Thehalf of February, the whole of March, and the half of April -rainy, the sun being then on or near the equinox.The half of April, the whole of May, June, and July, and the halfof August - dry, the sun being then to the north of the line.The half of August, the whole of September, and the half of October- rainy, the sun being then come back.The half of October, the whole of November, December, and January,and the half of February - dry, the sun being then to the south ofthe line.The rainy seasons sometimes held longer or shorter as the windshappened to blow, but this was the general observation I made.After I had found by experience the ill consequences of beingabroad in the rain, I took care to furnish myself with provisionsbeforehand, that I might not be obliged to go out, and I sat withindoors as much as possible during the wet months. This time I foundmuch employment, and very suitable also to the time, for I foundgreat occasion for many things which I had no way to furnish myselfwith but by hard labour and constant application; particularly Itried many ways to make myself a basket, but all the twigs I couldget for the purpose proved so brittle that they would do nothing.It proved of excellent advantage to me now, that when I was a boy,I used to take great delight in standing at a basket-maker's, inthe town where my father lived, to see them make their wicker-ware;and being, as boys usually are, very officious to help, and a greatobserver of the manner in which they worked those things, andsometimes lending a hand, I had by these means full knowledge ofthe methods of it, and I wanted nothing but the materials, when itcame into my mind that the twigs of that tree from whence I cut mystakes that grew might possibly be as tough as the sallows,willows, and osiers in England, and I resolved to try.Accordingly, the next day I went to my country house, as I calledit, and cutting some of the smaller twigs, I found them to mypurpose as much as I could desire; whereupon I came the next timeprepared with a hatchet to cut down a quantity, which I soon found,for there was great plenty of them. These I set up to dry withinmy circle or hedge, and when they were fit for use I carried themto my cave; and here, during the next season, I employed myself inmaking, as well as I could, a great many baskets, both to carryearth or to carry or lay up anything, as I had occasion; and thoughI did not finish them very handsomely, yet I made them sufficientlyserviceable for my purpose; thus, afterwards, I took care never tobe without them; and as my wicker-ware decayed, I made more,especially strong, deep baskets to place my corn in, instead ofsacks, when I should come to have any quantity of it.Having mastered this difficulty, and employed a world of time aboutit, I bestirred myself to see, if possible, how to supply twowants. I had no vessels to hold anything that was liquid, excepttwo runlets, which were almost full of rum, and some glass bottles- some of the common size, and others which were case bottles,square, for the holding of water, spirits, &c. I had not so muchas a pot to boil anything, except a great kettle, which I saved outof the ship, and which was too big for such as I desired it - viz.to make broth, and stew a bit of meat by itself. The second thingI fain would have had was a tobacco-pipe, but it was impossible tome to make one; however, I found a contrivance for that, too, atlast. I employed myself in planting my second rows of stakes orpiles, and in this wicker-working all the summer or dry season,when another business took me up more time than it could beimagined I could spare.