Chapter 4: First Weeks on the Island

by Daniel Defoe

　　When I waked it was broad day, the weather clear, and the stormabated, so that the sea did not rage and swell as before. But thatwhich surprised me most was, that the ship was lifted off in thenight from the sand where she lay by the swelling of the tide, andwas driven up almost as far as the rock which I at first mentioned,where I had been so bruised by the wave dashing me against it.This being within about a mile from the shore where I was, and theship seeming to stand upright still, I wished myself on board, thatat least I might save some necessary things for my use.When I came down from my apartment in the tree, I looked about meagain, and the first thing I found was the boat, which lay, as thewind and the sea had tossed her up, upon the land, about two mileson my right hand. I walked as far as I could upon the shore tohave got to her; but found a neck or inlet of water between me andthe boat which was about half a mile broad; so I came back for thepresent, being more intent upon getting at the ship, where I hopedto find something for my present subsistence.A little after noon I found the sea very calm, and the tide ebbedso far out that I could come within a quarter of a mile of theship. And here I found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I sawevidently that if we had kept on board we had been all safe - thatis to say, we had all got safe on shore, and I had not been somiserable as to be left entirety destitute of all comfort andcompany as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes again; but asthere was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to get tothe ship; so I pulled off my clothes - for the weather was hot toextremity - and took the water. But when I came to the ship mydifficulty was still greater to know how to get on board; for, asshe lay aground, and high out of the water, there was nothingwithin my reach to lay hold of. I swam round her twice, and thesecond time I spied a small piece of rope, which I wondered I didnot see at first, hung down by the fore-chains so low, as that withgreat difficulty I got hold of it, and by the help of that rope Igot up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found that the shipwas bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold, but that shelay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or, rather earth, thather stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost tothe water. By this means all her quarter was free, and all thatwas in that part was dry; for you may be sure my first work was tosearch, and to see what was spoiled and what was free. And, first,I found that all the ship's provisions were dry and untouched bythe water, and being very well disposed to eat, I went to the breadroom and filled my pockets with biscuit, and ate it as I went aboutother things, for I had no time to lose. I also found some rum inthe great cabin, of which I took a large dram, and which I had,indeed, need enough of to spirit me for what was before me. Now Iwanted nothing but a boat to furnish myself with many things whichI foresaw would be very necessary to me.It was in vain to sit still and wish for what was not to be had;and this extremity roused my application. We had several spareyards, and two or three large spars of wood, and a spare topmast ortwo in the ship; I resolved to fall to work with these, and I flungas many of them overboard as I could manage for their weight, tyingevery one with a rope, that they might not drive away. When thiswas done I went down the ship's side, and pulling them to me, Itied four of them together at both ends as well as I could, in theform of a raft, and laying two or three short pieces of plank uponthem crossways, I found I could walk upon it very well, but that itwas not able to bear any great weight, the pieces being too light.So I went to work, and with a carpenter's saw I cut a spare topmastinto three lengths, and added them to my raft, with a great deal oflabour and pains. But the hope of furnishing myself withnecessaries encouraged me to go beyond what I should have been ableto have done upon another occasion.My raft was now strong enough to bear any reasonable weight. Mynext care was what to load it with, and how to preserve what I laidupon it from the surf of the sea; but I was not long consideringthis. I first laid all the planks or boards upon it that I couldget, and having considered well what I most wanted, I got three ofthe seamen's chests, which I had broken open, and emptied, andlowered them down upon my raft; the first of these I filled withprovisions - viz. bread, rice, three Dutch cheeses, five pieces ofdried goat's flesh (which we lived much upon), and a littleremainder of European corn, which had been laid by for some fowlswhich we brought to sea with us, but the fowls were killed. Therehad been some barley and wheat together; but, to my greatdisappointment, I found afterwards that the rats had eaten orspoiled it all. As for liquors, I found several, cases of bottlesbelonging to our skipper, in which were some cordial waters; and,in all, about five or six gallons of rack. These I stowed bythemselves, there being no need to put them into the chest, nor anyroom for them. While I was doing this, I found the tide begin toflow, though very calm; and I had the mortification to see my coat,shirt, and waistcoat, which I had left on the shore, upon the sand,swim away. As for my breeches, which were only linen, and open-kneed, I swam on board in them and my stockings. However, this setme on rummaging for clothes, of which I found enough, but took nomore than I wanted for present use, for I had others things whichmy eye was more upon - as, first, tools to work with on shore. Andit was after long searching that I found out the carpenter's chest,which was, indeed, a very useful prize to me, and much morevaluable than a shipload of gold would have been at that time. Igot it down to my raft, whole as it was, without losing time tolook into it, for I knew in general what it contained.My next care was for some ammunition and arms. There were two verygood fowling-pieces in the great cabin, and two pistols. These Isecured first, with some powder-horns and a small bag of shot, andtwo old rusty swords. I knew there were three barrels of powder inthe ship, but knew not where our gunner had stowed them; but withmuch search I found them, two of them dry and good, the third hadtaken water. Those two I got to my raft with the arms. And now Ithought myself pretty well freighted, and began to think how Ishould get to shore with them, having neither sail, oar, norrudder; and the least capful of wind would have overset all mynavigation.I had three encouragements - 1st, a smooth, calm sea; 2ndly, thetide rising, and setting in to the shore; 3rdly, what little windthere was blew me towards the land. And thus, having found two orthree broken oars belonging to the boat - and, besides the toolswhich were in the chest, I found two saws, an axe, and a hammer;with this cargo I put to sea. For a mile or thereabouts my raftwent very well, only that I found it drive a little distant fromthe place where I had landed before; by which I perceived thatthere was some indraft of the water, and consequently I hoped tofind some creek or river there, which I might make use of as a portto get to land with my cargo.As I imagined, so it was. There appeared before me a littleopening of the land, and I found a strong current of the tide setinto it; so I guided my raft as well as I could, to keep in themiddle of the stream.But here I had like to have suffered a second shipwreck, which, ifI had, I think verily would have broken my heart; for, knowingnothing of the coast, my raft ran aground at one end of it upon ashoal, and not being aground at the other end, it wanted but alittle that all my cargo had slipped off towards the end that wasafloat, and to fallen into the water. I did my utmost, by settingmy back against the chests, to keep them in their places, but couldnot thrust off the raft with all my strength; neither durst I stirfrom the posture I was in; but holding up the chests with all mymight, I stood in that manner near half-an-hour, in which time therising of the water brought me a little more upon a level; and alittle after, the water still-rising, my raft floated again, and Ithrust her off with the oar I had into the channel, and thendriving up higher, I at length found myself in the mouth of alittle river, with land on both sides, and a strong current of tiderunning up. I looked on both sides for a proper place to get toshore, for I was not willing to be driven too high up the river:hoping in time to see some ships at sea, and therefore resolved toplace myself as near the coast as I could.At length I spied a little cove on the right shore of the creek, towhich with great pain and difficulty I guided my raft, and at lastgot so near that, reaching ground with my oar, I could thrust herdirectly in. But here I had like to have dipped all my cargo intothe sea again; for that shore lying pretty steep - that is to saysloping - there was no place to land, but where one end of myfloat, if it ran on shore, would lie so high, and the other sinklower, as before, that it would endanger my cargo again. All thatI could do was to wait till the tide was at the highest, keepingthe raft with my oar like an anchor, to hold the side of it fast tothe shore, near a flat piece of ground, which I expected the waterwould flow over; and so it did. As soon as I found water enough -for my raft drew about a foot of water - I thrust her upon thatflat piece of ground, and there fastened or moored her, by stickingmy two broken oars into the ground, one on one side near one end,and one on the other side near the other end; and thus I lay tillthe water ebbed away, and left my raft and all my cargo safe onshore.My next work was to view the country, and seek a proper place formy habitation, and where to stow my goods to secure them fromwhatever might happen. Where I was, I yet knew not; whether on thecontinent or on an island; whether inhabited or not inhabited;whether in danger of wild beasts or not. There was a hill notabove a mile from me, which rose up very steep and high, and whichseemed to overtop some other hills, which lay as in a ridge from itnorthward. I took out one of the fowling-pieces, and one of thepistols, and a horn of powder; and thus armed, I travelled fordiscovery up to the top of that hill, where, after I had with greatlabour and difficulty got to the top, I saw any fate, to my greataffliction - viz. that I was in an island environed every way withthe sea: no land to be seen except some rocks, which lay a greatway off; and two small islands, less than this, which lay aboutthree leagues to the west.I found also that the island I was in was barren, and, as I sawgood reason to believe, uninhabited except by wild beasts, of whom,however, I saw none. Yet I saw abundance of fowls, but knew nottheir kinds; neither when I killed them could I tell what was fitfor food, and what not. At my coming back, I shot at a great birdwhich I saw sitting upon a tree on the side of a great wood. Ibelieve it was the first gun that had been fired there since thecreation of the world. I had no sooner fired, than from all partsof the wood there arose an innumerable number of fowls, of manysorts, making a confused screaming and crying, and every oneaccording to his usual note, but not one of them of any kind that Iknew. As for the creature I killed, I took it to be a kind ofhawk, its colour and beak resembling it, but it had no talons orclaws more than common. Its flesh was carrion, and fit fornothing.Contented with this discovery, I came back to my raft, and fell towork to bring my cargo on shore, which took me up the rest of thatday. What to do with myself at night I knew not, nor indeed whereto rest, for I was afraid to lie down on the ground, not knowingbut some wild beast might devour me, though, as I afterwards found,there was really no need for those fears.However, as well as I could, I barricaded myself round with thechest and boards that I had brought on shore, and made a kind ofhut for that night's lodging. As for food, I yet saw not which wayto supply myself, except that I had seen two or three creatureslike hares run out of the wood where I shot the fowl.I now began to consider that I might yet get a great many thingsout of the ship which would be useful to me, and particularly someof the rigging and sails, and such other things as might come toland; and I resolved to make another voyage on board the vessel, ifpossible. And as I knew that the first storm that blew mustnecessarily break her all in pieces, I resolved to set all otherthings apart till I had got everything out of the ship that I couldget. Then I called a council - that is to say in my thoughts -whether I should take back the raft; but this appearedimpracticable: so I resolved to go as before, when the tide wasdown; and I did so, only that I stripped before I went from my hut,having nothing on but my chequered shirt, a pair of linen drawers,and a pair of pumps on my feet.I got on board the ship as before, and prepared a second raft; and,having had experience of the first, I neither made this sounwieldy, nor loaded it so hard, but yet I brought away severalthings very useful to me; as first, in the carpenters stores Ifound two or three bags full of nails and spikes, a great screw-jack, a dozen or two of hatchets, and, above all, that most usefulthing called a grindstone. All these I secured, together withseveral things belonging to the gunner, particularly two or threeiron crows, and two barrels of musket bullets, seven muskets,another fowling-piece, with some small quantity of powder more; alarge bagful of small shot, and a great roll of sheet-lead; butthis last was so heavy, I could not hoist it up to get it over theship's side.Besides these things, I took all the men's clothes that I couldfind, and a spare fore-topsail, a hammock, and some bedding; andwith this I loaded my second raft, and brought them all safe onshore, to my very great comfort.I was under some apprehension, during my absence from the land,that at least my provisions might be devoured on shore: but when Icame back I found no sign of any visitor; only there sat a creaturelike a wild cat upon one of the chests, which, when I came towardsit, ran away a little distance, and then stood still. She sat verycomposed and unconcerned, and looked full in my face, as if she hada mind to be acquainted with me. I presented my gun at her, but,as she did not understand it, she was perfectly unconcerned at it,nor did she offer to stir away; upon which I tossed her a bit ofbiscuit, though by the way, I was not very free of it, for my storewas not great: however, I spared her a bit, I say, and she went toit, smelled at it, and ate it, and looked (as if pleased) for more;but I thanked her, and could spare no more: so she marched off.Having got my second cargo on shore - though I was fain to open thebarrels of powder, and bring them by parcels, for they were tooheavy, being large casks - I went to work to make me a little tentwith the sail and some poles which I cut for that purpose: and intothis tent I brought everything that I knew would spoil either withrain or sun; and I piled all the empty chests and casks up in acircle round the tent, to fortify it from any sudden attempt,either from man or beast.When I had done this, I blocked up the door of the tent with someboards within, and an empty chest set up on end without; andspreading one of the beds upon the ground, laying my two pistolsjust at my head, and my gun at length by me, I went to bed for thefirst time, and slept very quietly all night, for I was very wearyand heavy; for the night before I had slept little, and hadlaboured very hard all day to fetch all those things from the ship,and to get them on shore.I had the biggest magazine of all kinds now that ever was laid up,I believe, for one man: but I was not satisfied still, for whilethe ship sat upright in that posture, I thought I ought to geteverything out of her that I could; so every day at low water Iwent on board, and brought away something or other; butparticularly the third time I went I brought away as much of therigging as I could, as also all the small ropes and rope-twine Icould get, with a piece of spare canvas, which was to mend thesails upon occasion, and the barrel of wet gunpowder. In a word, Ibrought away all the sails, first and last; only that I was fain tocut them in pieces, and bring as much at a time as I could, forthey were no more useful to be sails, but as mere canvas only.But that which comforted me more still, was, that last of all,after I had made five or six such voyages as these, and thought Ihad nothing more to expect from the ship that was worth my meddlingwith - I say, after all this, I found a great hogshead of bread,three large runlets of rum, or spirits, a box of sugar, and abarrel of fine flour; this was surprising to me, because I hadgiven over expecting any more provisions, except what was spoiledby the water. I soon emptied the hogshead of the bread, andwrapped it up, parcel by parcel, in pieces of the sails, which Icut out; and, in a word, I got all this safe on shore also.The next day I made another voyage, and now, having plundered theship of what was portable and fit to hand out, I began with thecables. Cutting the great cable into pieces, such as I could move,I got two cables and a hawser on shore, with all the ironwork Icould get; and having cut down the spritsail-yard, and the mizzen-yard, and everything I could, to make a large raft, I loaded itwith all these heavy goods, and came away. But my good luck begannow to leave me; for this raft was so unwieldy, and so overladen,that, after I had entered the little cove where I had landed therest of my goods, not being able to guide it so handily as I didthe other, it overset, and threw me and all my cargo into thewater. As for myself, it was no great harm, for I was near theshore; but as to my cargo, it was a great part of it lost,especially the iron, which I expected would have been of great useto me; however, when the tide was out, I got most of the pieces ofthe cable ashore, and some of the iron, though with infinitelabour; for I was fain to dip for it into the water, a work whichfatigued me very much. After this, I went every day on board, andbrought away what I could get.I had been now thirteen days on shore, and had been eleven times onboard the ship, in which time I had brought away all that one pairof hands could well be supposed capable to bring; though I believeverily, had the calm weather held, I should have brought away thewhole ship, piece by piece. But preparing the twelfth time to goon board, I found the wind began to rise: however, at low water Iwent on board, and though I thought I had rummaged the cabin soeffectually that nothing more could be found, yet I discovered alocker with drawers in it, in one of which I found two or threerazors, and one pair of large scissors, with some ten or a dozen ofgood knives and forks: in another I found about thirty-six poundsvalue in money - some European coin, some Brazil, some pieces ofeight, some gold, and some silver.I smiled to myself at the sight of this money: "O drug!" said I,aloud, "what art thou good for? Thou art not worth to me - no, notthe taking off the ground; one of those knives is worth all thisheap; I have no manner of use for thee - e'en remain where thouart, and go to the bottom as a creature whose life is not worthsaying." However, upon second thoughts I took it away; andwrapping all this in a piece of canvas, I began to think of makinganother raft; but while I was preparing this, I found the skyovercast, and the wind began to rise, and in a quarter of an hourit blew a fresh gale from the shore. It presently occurred to methat it was in vain to pretend to make a raft with the windoffshore; and that it was my business to be gone before the tide offlood began, otherwise I might not be able to reach the shore atall. Accordingly, I let myself down into the water, and swamacross the channel, which lay between the ship and the sands, andeven that with difficulty enough, partly with the weight of thethings I had about me, and partly the roughness of the water; forthe wind rose very hastily, and before it was quite high water itblew a storm.But I had got home to my little tent, where I lay, with all mywealth about me, very secure. It blew very hard all night, and inthe morning, when I looked out, behold, no more ship was to beseen! I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with thesatisfactory reflection that I had lost no time, nor abated anydiligence, to get everything out of her that could be useful to me;and that, indeed, there was little left in her that I was able tobring away, if I had had more time.I now gave over any more thoughts of the ship, or of anything outof her, except what might drive on shore from her wreck; as,indeed, divers pieces of her afterwards did; but those things wereof small use to me.My thoughts were now wholly employed about securing myself againsteither savages, if any should appear, or wild beasts, if any werein the island; and I had many thoughts of the method how to dothis, and what kind of dwelling to make - whether I should make mea cave in the earth, or a tent upon the earth; and, in short, Iresolved upon both; the manner and description of which, it may notbe improper to give an account of.I soon found the place I was in was not fit for my settlement,because it was upon a low, moorish ground, near the sea, and Ibelieved it would not be wholesome, and more particularly becausethere was no fresh water near it; so I resolved to find a morehealthy and more convenient spot of ground.I consulted several things in my situation, which I found would heproper for me: 1st, health and fresh water, I just now mentioned;2ndly, shelter from the heat of the sun; 3rdly, security fromravenous creatures, whether man or beast; 4thly, a view to the sea,that if God sent any ship in sight, I might not lose any advantagefor my deliverance, of which I was not willing to banish all myexpectation yet.In search of a place proper for this, I found a little plain on theside of a rising hill, whose front towards this little plain wassteep as a house-side, so that nothing could come down upon me fromthe top. On the one side of the rock there was a hollow place,worn a little way in, like the entrance or door of a cave but therewas not really any cave or way into the rock at all.On the flat of the green, just before this hollow place, I resolvedto pitch my tent. This plain was not above a hundred yards broad,and about twice as long, and lay like a green before my door; and,at the end of it, descended irregularly every way down into the lowground by the seaside. It was on the N.N.W. side of the hill; sothat it was sheltered from the heat every day, till it came to a W.and by S. sun, or thereabouts, which, in those countries, is nearthe setting.Before I set up my tent I drew a half-circle before the hollowplace, which took in about ten yards in its semi-diameter from therock, and twenty yards in its diameter from its beginning andending.In this half-circle I pitched two rows of strong stakes, drivingthem into the ground till they stood very firm like piles, thebiggest end being out of the ground above five feet and a half, andsharpened on the top. The two rows did not stand above six inchesfrom one another.Then I took the pieces of cable which I had cut in the ship, andlaid them in rows, one upon another, within the circle, betweenthese two rows of stakes, up to the top, placing other stakes inthe inside, leaning against them, about two feet and a half high,like a spur to a post; and this fence was so strong, that neitherman nor beast could get into it or over it. This cost me a greatdeal 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 ashort ladder to go over the top; which ladder, when I was in, Ilifted over after me; and so I was completely fenced in andfortified, as I thought, from all the world, and consequently sleptsecure in the night, which otherwise I could not have done; though,as it appeared afterwards, there was no need of all this cautionfrom the enemies that I apprehended danger from.Into this fence or fortress, with infinite labour, I carried all myriches, all my provisions, ammunition, and stores, of which youhave the account above; and I made a large tent, which to preserveme from the rains that in one part of the year are very violentthere, I made double - one smaller tent within, and one larger tentabove it; and covered the uppermost with a large tarpaulin, which Ihad saved among the sails.And now I lay no more for a while in the bed which I had brought onshore, but in a hammock, which was indeed a very good one, andbelonged to the mate of the ship.Into this tent I brought all my provisions, and everything thatwould spoil by the wet; and having thus enclosed all my goods, Imade up the entrance, which till now I had left open, and so passedand repassed, as I said, by a short ladder.When I had done this, I began to work my way into the rock, andbringing all the earth and stones that I dug down out through mytent, 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; andthus I made me a cave, just behind my tent, which served me like acellar to my house.It cost me much labour and many days before all these things werebrought to perfection; and therefore I must go back to some otherthings which took up some of my thoughts. At the same time ithappened, 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 agreat clap of thunder, as is naturally the effect of it. I was notso much surprised with the lightning as I was with the thoughtwhich darted into my mind as swift as the lightning itself - Oh, mypowder! My very heart sank within me when I thought that, at oneblast, all my powder might be destroyed; on which, not my defenceonly, but the providing my food, as I thought, entirely depended.I was nothing near so anxious about my own danger, though, had thepowder took fire, I should never have known who had hurt me.Such impression did this make upon me, that after the storm wasover I laid aside all my works, my building and fortifying, andapplied myself to make bags and boxes, to separate the powder, andto 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 tokeep it so apart that it should not be possible to make one partfire another. I finished this work in about a fortnight; and Ithink my powder, which in all was about two hundred and fortypounds weight, was divided in not less than a hundred parcels. Asto the barrel that had been wet, I did not apprehend any dangerfrom that; so I placed it in my new cave, which, in my fancy, Icalled my kitchen; and the rest I hid up and down in holes amongthe rocks, so that no wet might come to it, marking very carefullywhere I laid it.In the interval of time while this was doing, I went out once atleast every day with my gun, as well to divert myself as to see ifI could kill anything fit for food; and, as near as I could, toacquaint myself with what the island produced. The first time Iwent out, I presently discovered that there were goats in theisland, which was a great satisfaction to me; but then it wasattended with this misfortune to me - viz. that they were so shy,so subtle, and so swift of foot, that it was the most difficultthing in the world to come at them; but I was not discouraged atthis, not doubting but I might now and then shoot one, as it soonhappened; for after I had found their haunts a little, I laid waitin 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 aterrible fright; but if they were feeding in the valleys, and I wasupon the rocks, they took no notice of me; from whence I concludedthat, by the position of their optics, their sight was so directeddownward that they did not readily see objects that were abovethem; so afterwards I took this method - I always climbed the rocksfirst, 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, whichgrieved me heartily; for when the old one fell, the kid stood stockstill by her, till I came and took her up; and not only so, butwhen I carried the old one with me, upon my shoulders, the kidfollowed 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 hopesto have bred it up tame; but it would not eat; so I was forced tokill it and eat it myself. These two supplied me with flesh agreat while, for I ate sparingly, and saved my provisions, my breadespecially, as much as possibly I could.Having now fixed my habitation, I found it absolutely necessary toprovide a place to make a fire in, and fuel to burn: and what I didfor that, and also how I enlarged my cave, and what conveniences Imade, I shall give a full account of in its place; but I must nowgive some little account of myself, and of my thoughts aboutliving, which, it may well be supposed, were not a few.I had a dismal prospect of my condition; for as I was not cast awayupon that island without being driven, as is said, by a violentstorm, quite out of the course of our intended voyage, and a greatway, viz. some hundreds of leagues, out of the ordinary course ofthe trade of mankind, I had great reason to consider it as adetermination of Heaven, that in this desolate place, and in thisdesolate manner, I should end my life. The tears would runplentifully down my face when I made these reflections; andsometimes I would expostulate with myself why Providence shouldthus completely ruin His creatures, and render them so absolutelymiserable; so without help, abandoned, so entirely depressed, thatit could hardly be rational to be thankful for such a life.But something always returned swift upon me to check thesethoughts, and to reprove me; and particularly one day, walking withmy gun in my hand by the seaside, I was very pensive upon thesubject of my present condition, when reason, as it were,expostulated with me the other way, thus: "Well, you are in adesolate condition, it is true; but, pray remember, where are therest of you? Did not you come, eleven of you in the boat? Whereare the ten? Why were they not saved, and you lost? Why were yousingled out? Is it better to be here or there?" And then Ipointed to the sea. All evils are to be considered with the goodthat is in them, and with what worse attends them.Then it occurred to me again, how well I was furnished for mysubsistence, and what would have been my case if it had nothappened (which was a hundred thousand to one) that the shipfloated from the place where she first struck, and was driven sonear to the shore that I had time to get all these things out ofher; what would have been my case, if I had been forced to havelived in the condition in which I at first came on shore, withoutnecessaries of life, or necessaries to supply and procure them?"Particularly," said I, aloud (though to myself), "what should Ihave done without a gun, without ammunition, without any tools tomake anything, or to work with, without clothes, bedding, a tent,or any manner of covering?" and that now I had all these tosufficient quantity, and was in a fair way to provide myself insuch a manner as to live without my gun, when my ammunition wasspent: so that I had a tolerable view of subsisting, without anywant, as long as I lived; for I considered from the beginning how Iwould provide for the accidents that might happen, and for the timethat was to come, even not only after my ammunition should bespent, but even after my health and strength should decay.I confess I had not entertained any notion of my ammunition beingdestroyed at one blast - I mean my powder being blown up bylightning; 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 sceneof silent life, such, perhaps, as was never heard of in the worldbefore, I shall take it from its beginning, and continue it in itsorder. It was by my account the 30th of September, when, in themanner as above said, I first set foot upon this horrid island;when the sun, being to us in its autumnal equinox, was almost overmy head; for I reckoned myself, by observation, to be in thelatitude of nine degrees twenty-two minutes north of the line.After I had been there about ten or twelve days, it came into mythoughts that I should lose my reckoning of time for want of books,and pen and ink, and should even forget the Sabbath days; but toprevent this, I cut with my knife upon a large post, in capitalletters - and making it into a great cross, I set it up on theshore where I first landed - "I came on shore here on the 30thSeptember 1659."Upon the sides of this square post I cut every day a notch with myknife, and every seventh notch was as long again as the rest, andevery first day of the month as long again as that long one; andthus I kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and yearly reckoningof time.In the next place, we are to observe that among the many thingswhich I brought out of the ship, in the several voyages which, asabove mentioned, I made to it, I got several things of less value,but not at all less useful to me, which I omitted setting downbefore; as, in particular, pens, ink, and paper, several parcels inthe captain's, mate's, gunner's and carpenter's keeping; three orfour 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 goodBibles, which came to me in my cargo from England, and which I hadpacked up among my things; some Portuguese books also; and amongthem two or three Popish prayer-books, and several other books, allwhich I carefully secured. And I must not forget that we had inthe ship a dog and two cats, of whose eminent history I may haveoccasion to say something in its place; for I carried both the catswith 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 firstcargo, and was a trusty servant to me many years; I wanted nothingthat he could fetch me, nor any company that he could make up tome; I only wanted to have him talk to me, but that would not do.As I observed before, I found pens, ink, and paper, and I husbandedthem to the utmost; and I shall show that while my ink lasted, Ikept things very exact, but after that was gone I could not, for Icould not make any ink by any means that I could devise.And this put me in mind that I wanted many things notwithstandingall that I had amassed together; and of these, ink was one; as alsoa spade, pickaxe, and shovel, to dig or remove the earth; needles,pins, and thread; as for linen, I soon learned to want that withoutmuch difficulty.This want of tools made every work I did go on heavily; and it wasnear a whole year before I had entirely finished my little pale, orsurrounded my habitation. The piles, or stakes, which were asheavy as I could well lift, were a long time in cutting andpreparing in the woods, and more, by far, in bringing home; so thatI spent sometimes two days in cutting and bringing home one ofthose posts, and a third day in driving it into the ground; forwhich purpose I got a heavy piece of wood at first, but at lastbethought myself of one of the iron crows; which, however, though Ifound it, made driving those posts or piles very laborious andtedious work. But what need I have been concerned at thetediousness of anything I had to do, seeing I had time enough to doit in? nor had I any other employment, if that had been over, atleast that I could foresee, except the ranging the island to seekfor food, which I did, more or less, every day.I now began to consider seriously my condition, and thecircumstances I was reduced to; and I drew up the state of myaffairs in writing, not so much to leave them to any that were tocome after me - for I was likely to have but few heirs - as todeliver my thoughts from daily poring over them, and afflicting mymind; and as my reason began now to master my despondency, I beganto comfort myself as well as I could, and to set the good againstthe evil, that I might have something to distinguish my case fromworse; and I stated very impartially, like debtor and creditor, thecomforts I enjoyed against the miseries I suffered, thus:-Evil: I am cast upon a horrible, desolate island, void of all hopeof recovery.Good: But I am alive; and not drowned, as all my ship's companywere.Evil: I am singled out and separated, as it were, from all theworld, to be miserable.Good: But I am singled out, too, from all the ship's crew, to bespared from death; and He that miraculously saved me from death candeliver me from this condition.Evil: I am divided from mankind - a solitaire; one banished fromhuman society.Good: But I am not starved, and perishing on a barren place,affording no sustenance.Evil: I have no clothes to cover me.Good: But I am in a hot climate, where, if I had clothes, I couldhardly wear them.Evil: I am without any defence, or means to resist any violence ofman or beast.Good: But I am cast on an island where I see no wild beasts to hurtme, as I saw on the coast of Africa; and what if I had beenshipwrecked there?Evil: I have no soul to speak to or relieve me.Good: But God wonderfully sent the ship in near enough to theshore, that I have got out as many necessary things as will eithersupply my wants or enable me to supply myself, even as long as Ilive.Upon the whole, here was an undoubted testimony that there wasscarce any condition in the world so miserable but there wassomething negative or something positive to be thankful for in it;and let this stand as a direction from the experience of the mostmiserable of all conditions in this world: that we may always findin it something to comfort ourselves from, and to set, in thedescription of good and evil, on the credit side of the account.Having now brought my mind a little to relish my condition, andgiven over looking out to sea, to see if I could spy a ship - Isay, giving over these things, I begun to apply myself to arrangemy way of living, and to make things as easy to me as I could.I have already described my habitation, which was a tent under theside of a rock, surrounded with a strong pale of posts and cables:but I might now rather call it a wall, for I raised a kind of wallup against it of turfs, about two feet thick on the outside; andafter some time (I think it was a year and a half) I raised raftersfrom it, leaning to the rock, and thatched or covered it withboughs of trees, and such things as I could get, to keep out therain; which I found at some times of the year very violent.I have already observed how I brought all my goods into this pale,and into the cave which I had made behind me. But I must observe,too, that at first this was a confused heap of goods, which, asthey lay in no order, so they took up all my place; I had no roomto turn myself: so I set myself to enlarge my cave, and workfarther into the earth; for it was a loose sandy rock, whichyielded easily to the labour I bestowed on it: and so when I foundI was pretty safe as to beasts of prey, I worked sideways, to theright hand, into the rock; and then, turning to the right again,worked quite out, and made me a door to come out on the outside ofmy pale or fortification. This gave me not only egress andregress, as it was a back way to my tent and to my storehouse, butgave me room to store my goods.And now I began to apply myself to make such necessary things as Ifound I most wanted, particularly a chair and a table; for withoutthese I was not able to enjoy the few comforts I had in the world;I could not write or eat, or do several things, with so muchpleasure without a table: so I went to work. And here I must needsobserve, that as reason is the substance and origin of themathematics, so by stating and squaring everything by reason, andby making the most rational judgment of things, every man may be,in time, master of every mechanic art. I had never handled a toolin my life; and yet, in time, by labour, application, andcontrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could havemade it, especially if I had had tools. However, I made abundanceof things, even without tools; and some with no more tools than anadze and a hatchet, which perhaps were never made that way before,and that with infinite labour. For example, if I wanted a board, Ihad no other way but to cut down a tree, set it on an edge beforeme, and hew it flat on either side with my axe, till I brought itto be thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adze. It istrue, by this method I could make but one board out of a wholetree; but this I had no remedy for but patience, any more than Ihad for the prodigious deal of time and labour which it took me upto make a plank or board: but my time or labour was little worth,and so it was as well employed one way as another.However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in thefirst place; and this I did out of the short pieces of boards thatI brought on my raft from the ship. But when I had wrought outsome boards as above, I made large shelves, of the breadth of afoot and a half, one over another all along one side of my cave, tolay all my tools, nails and ironwork on; and, in a word, toseparate everything at large into their places, that I might comeeasily at them. I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock to hangmy guns and all things that would hang up; so that, had my cavebeen to be seen, it looked like a general magazine of all necessarythings; and had everything so ready at my hand, that it was a greatpleasure to me to see all my goods in such order, and especially tofind my stock of all necessaries so great.And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day'semployment; for, indeed, at first I was in too much hurry, and notonly hurry as to labour, but in too much discomposure of mind; andmy journal would have been full of many dull things; for example, Imust have said thus: "30TH. - After I had got to shore, and escapeddrowning, instead of being thankful to God for my deliverance,having first vomited, with the great quantity of salt water whichhad got into my stomach, and recovering myself a little, I ranabout the shore wringing my hands and beating my head and face,exclaiming at my misery, and crying out, 'I was undone, undone!'till, tired and faint, I was forced to lie down on the ground torepose, but durst not sleep for fear of being devoured."Some days after this, and after I had been on board the ship, andgot all that I could out of her, yet I could not forbear getting upto the top of a little mountain and looking out to sea, in hopes ofseeing a ship; then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sail, pleasemyself with the hopes of it, and then after looking steadily, tillI was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like achild, and thus increase my misery by my folly.But having gotten over these things in some measure, and havingsettled my household staff and habitation, made me a table and achair, and all as handsome about me as I could, I began to keep myjournal; of which I shall here give you the copy (though in it willbe told all these particulars over again) as long as it lasted; forhaving no more ink, I was forced to leave it off.