Chapter 3: Wrecked on a Desert Island

by Daniel Defoe

　　After this stop, we made on to the southward continually for ten ortwelve days, living very sparingly on our provisions, which beganto abate very much, and going no oftener to the shore than we wereobliged to for fresh water. My design in this was to make theriver Gambia or Senegal, that is to say anywhere about the Cape deVerde, where I was in hopes to meet with some European ship; and ifI did not, I knew not what course I had to take, but to seek forthe islands, or perish there among the negroes. I knew that allthe ships from Europe, which sailed either to the coast of Guineaor to Brazil, or to the East Indies, made this cape, or thoseislands; and, in a word, I put the whole of my fortune upon thissingle point, either that I must meet with some ship or mustperish.When I had pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I havesaid, I began to see that the land was inhabited; and in two orthree places, as we sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shoreto look at us; we could also perceive they were quite black andnaked. I was once inclined to have gone on shore to them; but Xurywas my better counsellor, and said to me, "No go, no go." However,I hauled in nearer the shore that I might talk to them, and I foundthey ran along the shore by me a good way. I observed they had noweapons in their hand, except one, who had a long slender stick,which Xury said was a lance, and that they could throw them a greatway with good aim; so I kept at a distance, but talked with them bysigns as well as I could; and particularly made signs for somethingto eat: they beckoned to me to stop my boat, and they would fetchme some meat. Upon this I lowered the top of my sail and lay by,and two of them ran up into the country, and in less than half-an-hour came back, and brought with them two pieces of dried flesh andsome corn, such as is the produce of their country; but we neitherknew what the one or the other was; however, we were willing toaccept it, but how to come at it was our next dispute, for I wouldnot venture on shore to them, and they were as much afraid of us;but they took a safe way for us all, for they brought it to theshore and laid it down, and went and stood a great way off till wefetched it on board, and then came close to us again.We made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make themamends; but an opportunity offered that very instant to oblige themwonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mightycreatures, one pursuing the other (as we took it) with great furyfrom the mountains towards the sea; whether it was the malepursuing the female, or whether they were in sport or in rage, wecould not tell, any more than we could tell whether it was usual orstrange, but I believe it was the latter; because, in the firstplace, those ravenous creatures seldom appear but in the night;and, in the second place, we found the people terribly frighted,especially the women. The man that had the lance or dart did notfly from them, but the rest did; however, as the two creatures randirectly into the water, they did not offer to fall upon any of thenegroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, and swam about, as ifthey had come for their diversion; at last one of them began tocome nearer our boat than at first I expected; but I lay ready forhim, for I had loaded my gun with all possible expedition, and badeXury load both the others. As soon as he came fairly within myreach, I fired, and shot him directly in the head; immediately hesank down into the water, but rose instantly, and plunged up anddown, as if he were struggling for life, and so indeed he was; heimmediately made to the shore; but between the wound, which was hismortal hurt, and the strangling of the water, he died just beforehe reached the shore.It is impossible to express the astonishment of these poorcreatures at the noise and fire of my gun: some of them were evenready to die for fear, and fell down as dead with the very terror;but when they saw the creature dead, and sunk in the water, andthat I made signs to them to come to the shore, they took heart andcame, and began to search for the creature. I found him by hisblood staining the water; and by the help of a rope, which I slunground him, and gave the negroes to haul, they dragged him on shore,and found that it was a most curious leopard, spotted, and fine toan admirable degree; and the negroes held up their hands withadmiration, to think what it was I had killed him with.The other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noiseof the gun, swam on shore, and ran up directly to the mountainsfrom whence they came; nor could I, at that distance, know what itwas. I found quickly the negroes wished to eat the flesh of thiscreature, so I was willing to have them take it as a favour fromme; which, when I made signs to them that they might take him, theywere very thankful for. Immediately they fell to work with him;and though they had no knife, yet, with a sharpened piece of wood,they took off his skin as readily, and much more readily, than wecould have done with a knife. They offered me some of the flesh,which I declined, pointing out that I would give it them; but madesigns for the skin, which they gave me very freely, and brought mea great deal more of their provisions, which, though I did notunderstand, yet I accepted. I then made signs to them for somewater, and held out one of my jars to them, turning it bottomupward, to show that it was empty, and that I wanted to have itfilled. They called immediately to some of their friends, andthere came two women, and brought a great vessel made of earth, andburnt, as I supposed, in the sun, this they set down to me, asbefore, and I sent Xury on shore with my jars, and filled them allthree. The women were as naked as the men.I was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and water;and leaving my friendly negroes, I made forward for about elevendays more, without offering to go near the shore, till I saw theland run out a great length into the sea, at about the distance offour or five leagues before me; and the sea being very calm, I kepta large offing to make this point. At length, doubling the point,at about two leagues from the land, I saw plainly land on the otherside, to seaward; then I concluded, as it was most certain indeed,that this was the Cape de Verde, and those the islands called, fromthence, Cape de Verde Islands. However, they were at a greatdistance, and I could not well tell what I had best to do; for if Ishould be taken with a fresh of wind, I might neither reach one orother.In this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped into the cabinand sat down, Xury having the helm; when, on a sudden, the boycried out, "Master, master, a ship with a sail!" and the foolishboy was frighted out of his wits, thinking it must needs be some ofhis master's ships sent to pursue us, but I knew we were far enoughout of their reach. I jumped out of the cabin, and immediatelysaw, not only the ship, but that it was a Portuguese ship; and, asI thought, was bound to the coast of Guinea, for negroes. But,when I observed the course she steered, I was soon convinced theywere bound some other way, and did not design to come any nearer tothe shore; upon which I stretched out to sea as much as I could,resolving to speak with them if possible.With all the sail I could make, I found I should not be able tocome in their way, but that they would be gone by before I couldmake any signal to them: but after I had crowded to the utmost, andbegan to despair, they, it seems, saw by the help of their glassesthat it was some European boat, which they supposed must belong tosome ship that was lost; so they shortened sail to let me come up.I was encouraged with this, and as I had my patron's ancient onboard, I made a waft of it to them, for a signal of distress, andfired a gun, both which they saw; for they told me they saw thesmoke, though they did not hear the gun. Upon these signals theyvery kindly brought to, and lay by for me; and in about threehours; time I came up with them.They asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and inFrench, but I understood none of them; but at last a Scotch sailor,who was on board, called to me: and I answered him, and told him Iwas an Englishman, that I had made my escape out of slavery fromthe Moors, at Sallee; they then bade me come on board, and verykindly took me in, and all my goods.It was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one will believe, thatI was thus delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable andalmost hopeless condition as I was in; and I immediately offeredall I had to the captain of the ship, as a return for mydeliverance; but he generously told me he would take nothing fromme, but that all I had should be delivered safe to me when I cameto the Brazils. "For," says he, "I have saved your life on noother terms than I would be glad to be saved myself: and it may,one time or other, be my lot to be taken up in the same condition.Besides," said he, "when I carry you to the Brazils, so great a wayfrom your own country, if I should take from you what you have, youwill be starved there, and then I only take away that life I havegiven. No, no," says he: "Seignior Inglese" (Mr. Englishman), "Iwill carry you thither in charity, and those things will help tobuy your subsistence there, and your passage home again."As he was charitable in this proposal, so he was just in theperformance to a tittle; for he ordered the seamen that none shouldtouch anything that I had: then he took everything into his ownpossession, and gave me back an exact inventory of them, that Imight have them, even to my three earthen jars.As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told mehe would buy it of me for his ship's use; and asked me what I wouldhave for it? I told him he had been so generous to me ineverything that I could not offer to make any price of the boat,but left it entirely to him: upon which he told me he would give mea note of hand to pay me eighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil;and when it came there, if any one offered to give more, he wouldmake it up. He offered me also sixty pieces of eight more for myboy Xury, which I was loth to take; not that I was unwilling to letthe captain have him, but I was very loth to sell the poor boy'sliberty, who had assisted me so faithfully in procuring my own.However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it to be just, andoffered me this medium, that he would give the boy an obligation toset him free in ten years, if he turned Christian: upon this, andXury saying he was willing to go to him, I let the captain havehim.We had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and I arrived in the Bayde Todos los Santos, or All Saints' Bay, in about twenty-two daysafter. And now I was once more delivered from the most miserableof all conditions of life; and what to do next with myself I was toconsider.The generous treatment the captain gave me I can never enoughremember: he would take nothing of me for my passage, gave metwenty ducats for the leopard's skin, and forty for the lion'sskin, which I had in my boat, and caused everything I had in theship to be punctually delivered to me; and what I was willing tosell he bought of me, such as the case of bottles, two of my guns,and a piece of the lump of beeswax - for I had made candles of therest: in a word, I made about two hundred and twenty pieces ofeight of all my cargo; and with this stock I went on shore in theBrazils.I had not been long here before I was recommended to the house of agood honest man like himself, who had an ingenio, as they call it(that is, a plantation and a sugar-house). I lived with him sometime, and acquainted myself by that means with the manner ofplanting and making of sugar; and seeing how well the planterslived, and how they got rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could get alicence to settle there, I would turn planter among them: resolvingin the meantime to find out some way to get my money, which I hadleft in London, remitted to me. To this purpose, getting a kind ofletter of naturalisation, I purchased as much land that was uncuredas my money would reach, and formed a plan for my plantation andsettlement; such a one as might be suitable to the stock which Iproposed to myself to receive from England.I had a neighbour, a Portuguese, of Lisbon, but born of Englishparents, whose name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as Iwas. I call him my neighbour, because his plantation lay next tomine, and we went on very sociably together. My stock was but low,as well as his; and we rather planted for food than anything else,for about two years. However, we began to increase, and our landbegan to come into order; so that the third year we planted sometobacco, and made each of us a large piece of ground ready forplanting canes in the year to come. But we both wanted help; andnow I found, more than before, I had done wrong in parting with myboy Xury.But, alas! for me to do wrong that never did right, was no greatwonder. I hail no remedy but to go on: I had got into anemployment quite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to thelife I delighted in, and for which I forsook my father's house, andbroke through all his good advice. Nay, I was coming into the verymiddle station, or upper degree of low life, which my fatheradvised me to before, and which, if I resolved to go on with, Imight as well have stayed at home, and never have fatigued myselfin the world as I had done; and I used often to say to myself, Icould have done this as well in England, among my friends, as havegone five thousand miles off to do it among strangers and savages,in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hear from anypart of the world that had the least knowledge of me.In this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmostregret. I had nobody to converse with, but now and then thisneighbour; no work to be done, but by the labour of my hands; and Iused to say, I lived just like a man cast away upon some desolateisland, that had nobody there but himself. But how just has itbeen - and how should all men reflect, that when they compare theirpresent conditions with others that are worse, Heaven may obligethem to make the exchange, and be convinced of their formerfelicity by their experience - I say, how just has it been, thatthe truly solitary life I reflected on, in an island of meredesolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustly compared itwith the life which I then led, in which, had I continued, I had inall probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.I was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on theplantation before my kind friend, the captain of the ship that tookme up at sea, went back - for the ship remained there, in providinghis lading and preparing for his voyage, nearly three months - whentelling him what little stock I had left behind me in London, hegave me this friendly and sincere advice:- "Seignior Inglese," sayshe (for so he always called me), "if you will give me letters, anda procuration in form to me, with orders to the person who has yourmoney in London to send your effects to Lisbon, to such persons asI shall direct, and in such goods as are proper for this country, Iwill bring you the produce of them, God willing, at my return; but,since human affairs are all subject to changes and disasters, Iwould have you give orders but for one hundred pounds sterling,which, you say, is half your stock, and let the hazard be run forthe first; so that, if it come safe, you may order the rest thesame way, and, if it miscarry, you may have the other half to haverecourse to for your supply."This was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I couldnot but be convinced it was the best course I could take; so Iaccordingly prepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I hadleft my money, and a procuration to the Portuguese captain, as hedesired.I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all myadventures - my slavery, escape, and how I had met with thePortuguese captain at sea, the humanity of his behaviour, and whatcondition I was now in, with all other necessary directions for mysupply; and when this honest captain came to Lisbon, he foundmeans, by some of the English merchants there, to send over, notthe order only, but a full account of my story to a merchant inLondon, who represented it effectually to her; whereupon she notonly delivered the money, but out of her own pocket sent thePortugal captain a very handsome present for his humanity andcharity to me.The merchant in London, vesting this hundred pounds in Englishgoods, such as the captain had written for, sent them directly tohim at Lisbon, and he brought them all safe to me to the Brazils;among which, without my direction (for I was too young in mybusiness to think of them), he had taken care to have all sorts oftools, ironwork, and utensils necessary for my plantation, andwhich were of great use to me.When this cargo arrived I thought my fortune made, for I wassurprised with the joy of it; and my stood steward, the captain,had laid out the five pounds, which my friend had sent him for apresent for himself, to purchase and bring me over a servant, underbond for six years' service, and would not accept of anyconsideration, except a little tobacco, which I would have himaccept, being of my own produce.Neither was this all; for my goods being all English manufacture,such as cloths, stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable anddesirable in the country, I found means to sell them to a verygreat advantage; so that I might say I had more than four times thevalue of my first cargo, and was now infinitely beyond my poorneighbour - I mean in the advancement of my plantation; for thefirst thing I did, I bought me a negro slave, and an Europeanservant also - I mean another besides that which the captainbrought me from Lisbon.But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of ourgreatest adversity, so it was with me. I went on the next yearwith great success in my plantation: I raised fifty great rolls oftobacco on my own ground, more than I had disposed of fornecessaries among my neighbours; and these fifty rolls, being eachof above a hundredweight, were well cured, and laid by against thereturn of the fleet from Lisbon: and now increasing in business andwealth, my head began to be full of projects and undertakingsbeyond my reach; such as are, indeed, often the ruin of the bestheads in business. Had I continued in the station I was now in, Ihad room for all the happy things to have yet befallen me for whichmy father so earnestly recommended a quiet, retired life, and ofwhich he had so sensibly described the middle station of life to befull of; but other things attended me, and I was still to be thewilful agent of all my own miseries; and particularly, to increasemy fault, and double the reflections upon myself, which in myfuture sorrows I should have leisure to make, all thesemiscarriages were procured by my apparent obstinate adhering to myfoolish inclination of wandering abroad, and pursuing thatinclination, in contradiction to the clearest views of doing myselfgood in a fair and plain pursuit of those prospects, and thosemeasures of life, which nature and Providence concurred to presentme with, and to make my duty.As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parents, so Icould not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy view Ihad of being a rich and thriving man in my new plantation, only topursue a rash and immoderate desire of rising faster than thenature of the thing admitted; and thus I cast myself down againinto the deepest gulf of human misery that ever man fell into, orperhaps could be consistent with life and a state of health in theworld.To come, then, by the just degrees to the particulars of this partof my story. You may suppose, that having now lived almost fouryears in the Brazils, and beginning to thrive and prosper very wellupon my plantation, I had not only learned the language, but hadcontracted acquaintance and friendship among my fellow-planters, aswell as among the merchants at St. Salvador, which was our port;and that, in my discourses among them, I had frequently given theman account of my two voyages to the coast of Guinea: the manner oftrading with the negroes there, and how easy it was to purchaseupon the coast for trifles - such as beads, toys, knives, scissors,hatchets, bits of glass, and the like - not only gold-dust, Guineagrains, elephants' teeth, &c., but negroes, for the service of theBrazils, in great numbers.They listened always very attentively to my discourses on theseheads, but especially to that part which related to the buying ofnegroes, which was a trade at that time, not only not far enteredinto, but, as far as it was, had been carried on by assientos, orpermission of the kings of Spain and Portugal, and engrossed in thepublic stock: so that few negroes were bought, and theseexcessively dear.It happened, being in company with some merchants and planters ofmy acquaintance, and talking of those things very earnestly, threeof them came to me next morning, and told me they had been musingvery much upon what I had discoursed with them of the last night,and they came to make a secret proposal to me; and, after enjoiningme to secrecy, they told me that they had a mind to fit out a shipto go to Guinea; that they had all plantations as well as I, andwere straitened for nothing so much as servants; that as it was atrade that could not be carried on, because they could not publiclysell the negroes when they came home, so they desired to make butone voyage, to bring the negroes on shore privately, and dividethem among their own plantations; and, in a word, the question waswhether I would go their supercargo in the ship, to manage thetrading part upon the coast of Guinea; and they offered me that Ishould have my equal share of the negroes, without providing anypart of the stock.This was a fair proposal, it must be confessed, had it been made toany one that had not had a settlement and a plantation of his ownto look after, which was in a fair way of coming to be veryconsiderable, and with a good stock upon it; but for me, that wasthus entered and established, and had nothing to do but to go on asI had begun, for three or four years more, and to have sent for theother hundred pounds from England; and who in that time, and withthat little addition, could scarce have failed of being worth threeor four thousand pounds sterling, and that increasing too - for meto think of such a voyage was the most preposterous thing that everman in such circumstances could be guilty of.But I, that was born to be my own destroyer, could no more resistthe offer than I could restrain my first rambling designs when myfather' good counsel was lost upon me. In a word, I told them Iwould go with all my heart, if they would undertake to look aftermy plantation in my absence, and would dispose of it to such as Ishould direct, if I miscarried. This they all engaged to do, andentered into writings or covenants to do so; and I made a formalwill, disposing of my plantation and effects in case of my death,making the captain of the ship that had saved my life, as before,my universal heir, but obliging him to dispose of my effects as Ihad directed in my will; one half of the produce being to himself,and the other to be shipped to England.In short, I took all possible caution to preserve my effects and tokeep up my plantation. Had I used half as much prudence to havelooked into my own interest, and have made a judgment of what Iought to have done and not to have done, I had certainly never goneaway from so prosperous an undertaking, leaving all the probableviews of a thriving circumstance, and gone upon a voyage to sea,attended with all its common hazards, to say nothing of the reasonsI had to expect particular misfortunes to myself.But I was hurried on, and obeyed blindly the dictates of my fancyrather than my reason; and, accordingly, the ship being fitted out,and the cargo furnished, and all things done, as by agreement, bymy partners in the voyage, I went on board in an evil hour, the 1stSeptember 1659, being the same day eight years that I went from myfather and mother at Hull, in order to act the rebel to theirauthority, and the fool to my own interests.Our ship was about one hundred and twenty tons burden, carried sixguns and fourteen men, besides the master, his boy, and myself. Wehad on board no large cargo of goods, except of such toys as werefit for our trade with the negroes, such as beads, bits of glass,shells, and other trifles, especially little looking-glasses,knives, scissors, hatchets, and the like.The same day I went on board we set sail, standing away to thenorthward upon our own coast, with design to stretch over for theAfrican coast when we came about ten or twelve degrees of northernlatitude, which, it seems, was the manner of course in those days.We had very good weather, only excessively hot, all the way uponour own coast, till we came to the height of Cape St. Augustino;from whence, keeping further off at sea, we lost sight of land, andsteered as if we were bound for the isle Fernando de Noronha,holding our course N.E. by N., and leaving those isles on the east.In this course we passed the line in about twelve days' time, andwere, by our last observation, in seven degrees twenty-two minutesnorthern latitude, when a violent tornado, or hurricane, took usquite out of our knowledge. It began from the south-east, cameabout to the north-west, and then settled in the north-east; fromwhence it blew in such a terrible manner, that for twelve daystogether we could do nothing but drive, and, scudding away beforeit, let it carry us whither fate and the fury of the windsdirected; and, during these twelve days, I need not say that Iexpected every day to be swallowed up; nor, indeed, did any in theship expect to save their lives.In this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one ofour men die of the calenture, and one man and the boy washedoverboard. About the twelfth day, the weather abating a little,the master made an observation as well as he could, and found thathe was in about eleven degrees north latitude, but that he wastwenty-two degrees of longitude difference west from Cape St.Augustino; so that he found he was upon the coast of Guiana, or thenorth part of Brazil, beyond the river Amazon, toward that of theriver Orinoco, commonly called the Great River; and began toconsult with me what course he should take, for the ship was leaky,and very much disabled, and he was going directly back to the coastof Brazil.I was positively against that; and looking over the charts of thesea-coast of America with him, we concluded there was no inhabitedcountry for us to have recourse to till we came within the circleof the Caribbee Islands, and therefore resolved to stand away forBarbadoes; which, by keeping off at sea, to avoid the indraft ofthe Bay or Gulf of Mexico, we might easily perform, as we hoped, inabout fifteen days' sail; whereas we could not possibly make ourvoyage to the coast of Africa without some assistance both to ourship and to ourselves.With this design we changed our course, and steered away N.W. byW., in order to reach some of our English islands, where I hopedfor relief. But our voyage was otherwise determined; for, being inthe latitude of twelve degrees eighteen minutes, a second stormcame upon us, which carried us away with the same impetuositywestward, and drove us so out of the way of all human commerce,that, had all our lives been saved as to the sea, we were rather indanger of being devoured by savages than ever returning to our owncountry.In this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our menearly in the morning cried out, "Land!" and we had no sooner runout of the cabin to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in theworld we were, than the ship struck upon a sand, and in a momenther motion being so stopped, the sea broke over her in such amanner that we expected we should all have perished immediately;and we were immediately driven into our close quarters, to shelterus from the very foam and spray of the sea.It is not easy for any one who has not been in the like conditionto describe or conceive the consternation of men in suchcircumstances. We knew nothing where we were, or upon what land itwas we were driven - whether an island or the main, whetherinhabited or not inhabited. As the rage of the wind was stillgreat, though rather less than at first, we could not so much ashope to have the ship hold many minutes without breaking intopieces, unless the winds, by a kind of miracle, should turnimmediately about. In a word, we sat looking upon one another, andexpecting death every moment, and every man, accordingly, preparingfor another world; for there was little or nothing more for us todo in this. That which was our present comfort, and all thecomfort we had, was that, contrary to our expectation, the ship didnot break yet, and that the master said the wind began to abate.Now, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, yet theship having thus struck upon the sand, and sticking too fast for usto expect her getting off, we were in a dreadful condition indeed,and had nothing to do but to think of saving our lives as well aswe could. We had a boat at our stern just before the storm, butshe was first staved by dashing against the ship's rudder, and inthe next place she broke away, and either sunk or was driven off tosea; so there was no hope from her. We had another boat on board,but how to get her off into the sea was a doubtful thing. However,there was no time to debate, for we fancied that the ship wouldbreak in pieces every minute, and some told us she was actuallybroken already.In this distress the mate of our vessel laid hold of the boat, andwith the help of the rest of the men got her slung over the ship'sside; and getting all into her, let go, and committed ourselves,being eleven in number, to God's mercy and the wild sea; for thoughthe storm was abated considerably, yet the sea ran dreadfully highupon the shore, and might be well called den wild zee, as the Dutchcall the sea in a storm.And now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainlythat the sea went so high that the boat could not live, and that weshould be inevitably drowned. As to making sail, we had none, norif we had could we have done anything with it; so we worked at theoar towards the land, though with heavy hearts, like men going toexecution; for we all knew that when the boat came near the shoreshe would be dashed in a thousand pieces by the breach of the sea.However, we committed our souls to God in the most earnest manner;and the wind driving us towards the shore, we hastened ourdestruction with our own hands, pulling as well as we could towardsland.What the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal,we knew not. The only hope that could rationally give us the leastshadow of expectation was, if we might find some bay or gulf, orthe mouth of some river, where by great chance we might have runour boat in, or got under the lee of the land, and perhaps madesmooth water. But there was nothing like this appeared; but as wemade nearer and nearer the shore, the land looked more frightfulthan the sea.After we had rowed, or rather driven about a league and a half, aswe reckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling asternof us, and plainly bade us expect the coup de grace. It took uswith such a fury, that it overset the boat at once; and separatingus as well from the boat as from one another, gave us no time tosay, "O God!" for we were all swallowed up in a moment.Nothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when Isank into the water; for though I swam very well, yet I could notdeliver myself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wavehaving driven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards theshore, and having spent itself, went back, and left me upon theland almost dry, but half dead with the water I took in. I had somuch presence of mind, as well as breath left, that seeing myselfnearer the mainland than I expected, I got upon my feet, andendeavoured to make on towards the land as fast as I could beforeanother wave should return and take me up again; but I soon foundit was impossible to avoid it; for I saw the sea come after me ashigh as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy, which I had nomeans or strength to contend with: my business was to hold mybreath, and raise myself upon the water if I could; and so, byswimming, to preserve my breathing, and pilot myself towards theshore, if possible, my greatest concern now being that the sea, asit would carry me a great way towards the shore when it came on,might not carry me back again with it when it gave back towards thesea.The wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirtyfeet deep in its own body, and I could feel myself carried with amighty force and swiftness towards the shore - a very great way;but I held my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forwardwith all my might. I was ready to burst with holding my breath,when, as I felt myself rising up, so, to my immediate relief, Ifound my head and hands shoot out above the surface of the water;and though it was not two seconds of time that I could keep myselfso, yet it relieved me greatly, gave me breath, and new courage. Iwas covered again with water a good while, but not so long but Iheld it out; and finding the water had spent itself, and began toreturn, I struck forward against the return of the waves, and feltground again with my feet. I stood still a few moments to recoverbreath, and till the waters went from me, and then took to my heelsand ran with what strength I had further towards the shore. Butneither would this deliver me from the fury of the sea, which camepouring in after me again; and twice more I was lifted up by thewaves and carried forward as before, the shore being very flat.The last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me, for thesea having hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dashedme, against a piece of rock, and that with such force, that it leftme senseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; forthe blow taking my side and breast, beat the breath as it werequite out of my body; and had it returned again immediately, I musthave been strangled in the water; but I recovered a little beforethe return of the waves, and seeing I should be covered again withthe water, I resolved to hold fast by a piece of the rock, and soto hold my breath, if possible, till the wave went back. Now, asthe waves were not so high as at first, being nearer land, I heldmy hold till the wave abated, and then fetched another run, whichbrought me so near the shore that the next wave, though it wentover me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carry me away; and thenext run I took, I got to the mainland, where, to my great comfort,I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me down upon thegrass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of the water.I was now landed and safe on shore, and began to look up and thankGod that my life was saved, in a case wherein there was someminutes before scarce any room to hope. I believe it is impossibleto express, to the life, what the ecstasies and transports of thesoul are, when it is so saved, as I may say, out of the very grave:and I do not wonder now at the custom, when a malefactor, who hasthe halter about his neck, is tied up, and just going to be turnedoff, and has a reprieve brought to him - I say, I do not wonderthat they bring a surgeon with it, to let him blood that verymoment they tell him of it, that the surprise may not drive theanimal spirits from the heart and overwhelm him."For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first."I walked about on the shore lifting up my hands, and my wholebeing, as I may say, wrapped up in a contemplation of mydeliverance; making a thousand gestures and motions, which I cannotdescribe; reflecting upon all my comrades that were drowned, andthat there should not be one soul saved but myself; for, as forthem, I never saw them afterwards, or any sign of them, exceptthree of their hats, one cap, and two shoes that were not fellows.I cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth ofthe sea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far of; andconsidered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on shoreAfter I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of mycondition, I began to look round me, to see what kind of place Iwas in, and what was next to be done; and I soon found my comfortsabate, and that, in a word, I had a dreadful deliverance; for I waswet, had no clothes to shift me, nor anything either to eat ordrink to comfort me; neither did I see any prospect before me butthat of perishing with hunger or being devoured by wild beasts; andthat which was particularly afflicting to me was, that I had noweapon, either to hunt and kill any creature for my sustenance, orto defend myself against any other creature that might desire tokill me for theirs. In a word, I had nothing about me but a knife,a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in a box. This was all myprovisions; and this threw me into such terrible agonies of mind,that for a while I ran about like a madman. Night coming upon me,I began with a heavy heart to consider what would be my lot ifthere were any ravenous beasts in that country, as at night theyalways come abroad for their prey.All the remedy that offered to my thoughts at that time was to getup into a thick bushy tree like a fir, but thorny, which grew nearme, and where I resolved to sit all night, and consider the nextday what death I should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life.I walked about a furlong from the shore, to see if I could find anyfresh water to drink, which I did, to my great joy; and havingdrank, and put a little tobacco into my mouth to prevent hunger, Iwent to the tree, and getting up into it, endeavoured to placemyself so that if I should sleep I might not fall. And having cutme a short stick, like a truncheon, for my defence, I took up mylodging; and having been excessively fatigued, I fell fast asleep,and slept as comfortably as, I believe, few could have done in mycondition, and found myself more refreshed with it than, I think, Iever was on such an occasion.