Robinson Crusoe

A DREAM REALISED

Having now brought all my things on shore and secured them, I went back
to my boat, and rowed or paddled her along the shore to her old
harbour, where I laid her up, and made the best of my way to my old
habitation, where I found everything safe and quiet. I began now to
repose myself, live after my old fashion, and take care of my family
affairs; and for a while I lived easy enough, only that I was more
vigilant than I used to be, looked out oftener, and did not go abroad
so much; and if at any time I did stir with any freedom, it was always
to the east part of the island, where I was pretty well satisfied the
savages never came, and where I could go without so many precautions,
and such a load of arms and ammunition as I always carried with me if I
went the other way.

I lived in this condition near two years more; but my unlucky head,
that was always to let me know it was born to make my body miserable,
was all these two years filled with projects and designs how, if it
were possible, I might get away from this island: for sometimes I was
for making another voyage to the wreck, though my reason told me that
there was nothing left there worth the hazard of my voyage; sometimes
for a ramble one way, sometimes another—and I believe verily, if I had
had the boat that I went from Sallee in, I should have ventured to sea,
bound anywhere, I knew not whither.

I have been, in all my circumstances, a memento to those who are
touched with the general plague of mankind, whence, for aught I know,
one half of their miseries flow: I mean that of not being satisfied
with the station wherein God and Nature hath placed them—for, not to
look back upon my primitive condition, and the excellent advice of my
father, the opposition to which was, as I may call it, my original
sin, my subsequent mistakes of the same kind had been the means of my
coming into this miserable condition; for had that Providence which so
happily seated me at the Brazils as a planter blessed me with confined
desires, and I could have been contented to have gone on gradually, I
might have been by this time—I mean in the time of my being in this
island—one of the most considerable planters in the Brazils—nay, I am
persuaded, that by the improvements I had made in that little time I
lived there, and the increase I should probably have made if I had
remained, I might have been worth a hundred thousand moidores—and what
business had I to leave a settled fortune, a well-stocked plantation,
improving and increasing, to turn supercargo to Guinea to fetch
negroes, when patience and time would have so increased our stock at
home, that we could have bought them at our own door from those whose
business it was to fetch them? and though it had cost us something
more, yet the difference of that price was by no means worth saving at
so great a hazard.

But as this is usually the fate of young heads, so reflection upon the
folly of it is as commonly the exercise of more years, or of the
dear-bought experience of time—so it was with me now; and yet so deep
had the mistake taken root in my temper, that I could not satisfy
myself in my station, but was continually poring upon the means and
possibility of my escape from this place; and that I may, with greater
pleasure to the reader, bring on the remaining part of my story, it may
not be improper to give some account of my first conceptions on the
subject of this foolish scheme for my escape, and how, and upon what
foundation, I acted.

I am now to be supposed retired into my castle, after my late voyage to
the wreck, my frigate laid up and secured under water, as usual, and my
condition restored to what it was before: I had more wealth, indeed,
than I had before, but was not at all the richer; for I had no more use
for it than the Indians of Peru had before the Spaniards came there.

It was one of the nights in the rainy season in March, the
four-and-twentieth year of my first setting foot in this island of
solitude, I was lying in my bed or hammock, awake, very well in health,
had no pain, no distemper, no uneasiness of body, nor any uneasiness of
mind more than ordinary, but could by no means close my eyes, that is,
so as to sleep; no, not a wink all night long, otherwise than as
follows:

It is impossible to set down the innumerable crowd of thoughts that
whirled through that great thoroughfare of the brain, the memory, in
this night’s time. I ran over the whole history of my life in
miniature, or by abridgment, as I may call it, to my coming to this
island, and also of that part of my life since I came to this island.
In my reflections upon the state of my case since I came on shore on
this island, I was comparing the happy posture of my affairs in the
first years of my habitation here, with the life of anxiety, fear, and
care which I had lived in ever since I had seen the print of a foot in
the sand. Not that I did not believe the savages had frequented the
island even all the while, and might have been several hundreds of them
at times on shore there; but I had never known it, and was incapable of
any apprehensions about it; my satisfaction was perfect, though my
danger was the same, and I was as happy in not knowing my danger as if
I had never really been exposed to it. This furnished my thoughts with
many very profitable reflections, and particularly this one: How
infinitely good that Providence is, which has provided, in its
government of mankind, such narrow bounds to his sight and knowledge of
things; and though he walks in the midst of so many thousand dangers,
the sight of which, if discovered to him, would distract his mind and
sink his spirits, he is kept serene and calm, by having the events of
things hid from his eyes, and knowing nothing of the dangers which
surround him.

After these thoughts had for some time entertained me, I came to
reflect seriously upon the real danger I had been in for so many years
in this very island, and how I had walked about in the greatest
security, and with all possible tranquillity, even when perhaps nothing
but the brow of a hill, a great tree, or the casual approach of night,
had been between me and the worst kind of destruction—viz. that of
falling into the hands of cannibals and savages, who would have seized
on me with the same view as I would on a goat or turtle; and have
thought it no more crime to kill and devour me than I did of a pigeon
or a curlew. I would unjustly slander myself if I should say I was not
sincerely thankful to my great Preserver, to whose singular protection
I acknowledged, with great humanity, all these unknown deliverances
were due, and without which I must inevitably have fallen into their
merciless hands.

When these thoughts were over, my head was for some time taken up in
considering the nature of these wretched creatures, I mean the savages,
and how it came to pass in the world that the wise Governor of all
things should give up any of His creatures to such inhumanity—nay, to
something so much below even brutality itself—as to devour its own
kind: but as this ended in some (at that time) fruitless speculations,
it occurred to me to inquire what part of the world these wretches
lived in? how far off the coast was from whence they came? what they
ventured over so far from home for? what kind of boats they had? and
why I might not order myself and my business so that I might be able to
go over thither, as they were to come to me?

I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I should do with
myself when I went thither; what would become of me if I fell into the
hands of these savages; or how I should escape them if they attacked
me; no, nor so much as how it was possible for me to reach the coast,
and not to be attacked by some or other of them, without any
possibility of delivering myself; and if I should not fall into their
hands, what I should do for provision, or whither I should bend my
course; none of these thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way; but
my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my passing over in my boat
to the mainland. I looked upon my present condition as the most
miserable that could possibly be; that I was not able to throw myself
into anything but death, that could be called worse; and if I reached
the shore of the main I might perhaps meet with relief, or I might
coast along, as I did on the African shore, till I came to some
inhabited country, and where I might find some relief; and after all,
perhaps I might fall in with some Christian ship that might take me in:
and if the worst came to the worst, I could but die, which would put an
end to all these miseries at once. Pray note, all this was the fruit of
a disturbed mind, an impatient temper, made desperate, as it were, by
the long continuance of my troubles, and the disappointments I had met
in the wreck I had been on board of, and where I had been so near
obtaining what I so earnestly longed for—somebody to speak to, and to
learn some knowledge from them of the place where I was, and of the
probable means of my deliverance. I was agitated wholly by these
thoughts; all my calm of mind, in my resignation to Providence, and
waiting the issue of the dispositions of Heaven, seemed to be
suspended; and I had as it were no power to turn my thoughts to
anything but to the project of a voyage to the main, which came upon me
with such force, and such an impetuosity of desire, that it was not to
be resisted.

When this had agitated my thoughts for two hours or more, with such
violence that it set my very blood into a ferment, and my pulse beat as
if I had been in a fever, merely with the extraordinary fervour of my
mind about it, Nature—as if I had been fatigued and exhausted with the
very thoughts of it—threw me into a sound sleep. One would have thought
I should have dreamed of it, but I did not, nor of anything relating to
it, but I dreamed that as I was going out in the morning as usual from
my castle, I saw upon the shore two canoes and eleven savages coming to
land, and that they brought with them another savage whom they were
going to kill in order to eat him; when, on a sudden, the savage that
they were going to kill jumped away, and ran for his life; and I
thought in my sleep that he came running into my little thick grove
before my fortification, to hide himself; and that I seeing him alone,
and not perceiving that the others sought him that way, showed myself
to him, and smiling upon him, encouraged him: that he kneeled down to
me, seeming to pray me to assist him; upon which I showed him my
ladder, made him go up, and carried him into my cave, and he became my
servant; and that as soon as I had got this man, I said to myself, “Now
I may certainly venture to the mainland, for this fellow will serve me
as a pilot, and will tell me what to do, and whither to go for
provisions, and whither not to go for fear of being devoured; what
places to venture into, and what to shun.” I waked with this thought;
and was under such inexpressible impressions of joy at the prospect of
my escape in my dream, that the disappointments which I felt upon
coming to myself, and finding that it was no more than a dream, were
equally extravagant the other way, and threw me into a very great
dejection of spirits.

Upon this, however, I made this conclusion: that my only way to go
about to attempt an escape was, to endeavour to get a savage into my
possession: and, if possible, it should be one of their prisoners, whom
they had condemned to be eaten, and should bring hither to kill. But
these thoughts still were attended with this difficulty: that it was
impossible to effect this without attacking a whole caravan of them,
and killing them all; and this was not only a very desperate attempt,
and might miscarry, but, on the other hand, I had greatly scrupled the
lawfulness of it to myself; and my heart trembled at the thoughts of
shedding so much blood, though it was for my deliverance. I need not
repeat the arguments which occurred to me against this, they being the
same mentioned before; but though I had other reasons to offer now—viz.
that those men were enemies to my life, and would devour me if they
could; that it was self-preservation, in the highest degree, to deliver
myself from this death of a life, and was acting in my own defence as
much as if they were actually assaulting me, and the like; I say though
these things argued for it, yet the thoughts of shedding human blood
for my deliverance were very terrible to me, and such as I could by no
means reconcile myself to for a great while. However, at last, after
many secret disputes with myself, and after great perplexities about it
(for all these arguments, one way and another, struggled in my head a
long time), the eager prevailing desire of deliverance at length
mastered all the rest; and I resolved, if possible, to get one of these
savages into my hands, cost what it would. My next thing was to
contrive how to do it, and this, indeed, was very difficult to resolve
on; but as I could pitch upon no probable means for it, so I resolved
to put myself upon the watch, to see them when they came on shore, and
leave the rest to the event; taking such measures as the opportunity
should present, let what would be.

With these resolutions in my thoughts, I set myself upon the scout as
often as possible, and indeed so often that I was heartily tired of it;
for it was above a year and a half that I waited; and for great part of
that time went out to the west end, and to the south-west corner of the
island almost every day, to look for canoes, but none appeared. This
was very discouraging, and began to trouble me much, though I cannot
say that it did in this case (as it had done some time before) wear off
the edge of my desire to the thing; but the longer it seemed to be
delayed, the more eager I was for it: in a word, I was not at first so
careful to shun the sight of these savages, and avoid being seen by
them, as I was now eager to be upon them. Besides, I fancied myself
able to manage one, nay, two or three savages, if I had them, so as to
make them entirely slaves to me, to do whatever I should direct them,
and to prevent their being able at any time to do me any hurt. It was a
great while that I pleased myself with this affair; but nothing still
presented itself; all my fancies and schemes came to nothing, for no
savages came near me for a great while.

About a year and a half after I entertained these notions (and by long
musing had, as it were, resolved them all into nothing, for want of an
occasion to put them into execution), I was surprised one morning by
seeing no less than five canoes all on shore together on my side the
island, and the people who belonged to them all landed and out of my
sight. The number of them broke all my measures; for seeing so many,
and knowing that they always came four or six, or sometimes more in a
boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to take my measures
to attack twenty or thirty men single-handed; so lay still in my
castle, perplexed and discomforted. However, I put myself into the same
position for an attack that I had formerly provided, and was just ready
for action, if anything had presented. Having waited a good while,
listening to hear if they made any noise, at length, being very
impatient, I set my guns at the foot of my ladder, and clambered up to
the top of the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however,
that my head did not appear above the hill, so that they could not
perceive me by any means. Here I observed, by the help of my
perspective glass, that they were no less than thirty in number; that
they had a fire kindled, and that they had meat dressed. How they had
cooked it I knew not, or what it was; but they were all dancing, in I
know not how many barbarous gestures and figures, their own way, round
the fire.

While I was thus looking on them, I perceived, by my perspective, two
miserable wretches dragged from the boats, where, it seems, they were
laid by, and were now brought out for the slaughter. I perceived one of
them immediately fall; being knocked down, I suppose, with a club or
wooden sword, for that was their way; and two or three others were at
work immediately, cutting him open for their cookery, while the other
victim was left standing by himself, till they should be ready for him.
In that very moment this poor wretch, seeing himself a little at
liberty and unbound, Nature inspired him with hopes of life, and he
started away from them, and ran with incredible swiftness along the
sands, directly towards me; I mean towards that part of the coast where
my habitation was. I was dreadfully frightened, I must acknowledge,
when I perceived him run my way; and especially when, as I thought, I
saw him pursued by the whole body: and now I expected that part of my
dream was coming to pass, and that he would certainly take shelter in
my grove; but I could not depend, by any means, upon my dream, that the
other savages would not pursue him thither and find him there. However,
I kept my station, and my spirits began to recover when I found that
there was not above three men that followed him; and still more was I
encouraged, when I found that he outstripped them exceedingly in
running, and gained ground on them; so that, if he could but hold out
for half-an-hour, I saw easily he would fairly get away from them all.

There was between them and my castle the creek, which I mentioned often
in the first part of my story, where I landed my cargoes out of the
ship; and this I saw plainly he must necessarily swim over, or the poor
wretch would be taken there; but when the savage escaping came thither,
he made nothing of it, though the tide was then up; but plunging in,
swam through in about thirty strokes, or thereabouts, landed, and ran
with exceeding strength and swiftness. When the three persons came to
the creek, I found that two of them could swim, but the third could
not, and that, standing on the other side, he looked at the others, but
went no farther, and soon after went softly back again; which, as it
happened, was very well for him in the end. I observed that the two who
swam were yet more than twice as strong swimming over the creek as the
fellow was that fled from them. It came very warmly upon my thoughts,
and indeed irresistibly, that now was the time to get me a servant,
and, perhaps, a companion or assistant; and that I was plainly called
by Providence to save this poor creature’s life. I immediately ran down
the ladders with all possible expedition, fetched my two guns, for they
were both at the foot of the ladders, as I observed before, and getting
up again with the same haste to the top of the hill, I crossed towards
the sea; and having a very short cut, and all down hill, placed myself
in the way between the pursuers and the pursued, hallowing aloud to him
that fled, who, looking back, was at first perhaps as much frightened
at me as at them; but I beckoned with my hand to him to come back; and,
in the meantime, I slowly advanced towards the two that followed; then
rushing at once upon the foremost, I knocked him down with the stock of
my piece. I was loath to fire, because I would not have the rest hear;
though, at that distance, it would not have been easily heard, and
being out of sight of the smoke, too, they would not have known what to
make of it. Having knocked this fellow down, the other who pursued him
stopped, as if he had been frightened, and I advanced towards him: but
as I came nearer, I perceived presently he had a bow and arrow, and was
fitting it to shoot at me: so I was then obliged to shoot at him first,
which I did, and killed him at the first shot. The poor savage who
fled, but had stopped, though he saw both his enemies fallen and
killed, as he thought, yet was so frightened with the fire and noise of
my piece that he stood stock still, and neither came forward nor went
backward, though he seemed rather inclined still to fly than to come
on. I hallooed again to him, and made signs to come forward, which he
easily understood, and came a little way; then stopped again, and then
a little farther, and stopped again; and I could then perceive that he
stood trembling, as if he had been taken prisoner, and had just been to
be killed, as his two enemies were. I beckoned to him again to come to
me, and gave him all the signs of encouragement that I could think of;
and he came nearer and nearer, kneeling down every ten or twelve steps,
in token of acknowledgment for saving his life. I smiled at him, and
looked pleasantly, and beckoned to him to come still nearer; at length
he came close to me; and then he kneeled down again, kissed the ground,
and laid his head upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my
foot upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of swearing to be my
slave for ever. I took him up and made much of him, and encouraged him
all I could. But there was more work to do yet; for I perceived the
savage whom I had knocked down was not killed, but stunned with the
blow, and began to come to himself: so I pointed to him, and showed him
the savage, that he was not dead; upon this he spoke some words to me,
and though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were
pleasant to hear; for they were the first sound of a man’s voice that I
had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty-five years. But there was
no time for such reflections now; the savage who was knocked down
recovered himself so far as to sit up upon the ground, and I perceived
that my savage began to be afraid; but when I saw that, I presented my
other piece at the man, as if I would shoot him: upon this my savage,
for so I call him now, made a motion to me to lend him my sword, which
hung naked in a belt by my side, which I did. He no sooner had it, but
he runs to his enemy, and at one blow cut off his head so cleverly, no
executioner in Germany could have done it sooner or better; which I
thought very strange for one who, I had reason to believe, never saw a
sword in his life before, except their own wooden swords: however, it
seems, as I learned afterwards, they make their wooden swords so sharp,
so heavy, and the wood is so hard, that they will even cut off heads
with them, ay, and arms, and that at one blow, too. When he had done
this, he comes laughing to me in sign of triumph, and brought me the
sword again, and with abundance of gestures which I did not understand,
laid it down, with the head of the savage that he had killed, just
before me. But that which astonished him most was to know how I killed
the other Indian so far off; so, pointing to him, he made signs to me
to let him go to him; and I bade him go, as well as I could. When he
came to him, he stood like one amazed, looking at him, turning him
first on one side, then on the other; looked at the wound the bullet
had made, which it seems was just in his breast, where it had made a
hole, and no great quantity of blood had followed; but he had bled
inwardly, for he was quite dead. He took up his bow and arrows, and
came back; so I turned to go away, and beckoned him to follow me,
making signs to him that more might come after them. Upon this he made
signs to me that he should bury them with sand, that they might not be
seen by the rest, if they followed; and so I made signs to him again to
do so. He fell to work; and in an instant he had scraped a hole in the
sand with his hands big enough to bury the first in, and then dragged
him into it, and covered him; and did so by the other also; I believe
he had buried them both in a quarter of an hour. Then, calling away, I
carried him, not to my castle, but quite away to my cave, on the
farther part of the island: so I did not let my dream come to pass in
that part, that he came into my grove for shelter. Here I gave him
bread and a bunch of raisins to eat, and a draught of water, which I
found he was indeed in great distress for, from his running: and having
refreshed him, I made signs for him to go and lie down to sleep,
showing him a place where I had laid some rice-straw, and a blanket
upon it, which I used to sleep upon myself sometimes; so the poor
creature lay down, and went to sleep.

He was a comely, handsome fellow, perfectly well made, with straight,
strong limbs, not too large; tall, and well-shaped; and, as I reckon,
about twenty-six years of age. He had a very good countenance, not a
fierce and surly aspect, but seemed to have something very manly in his
face; and yet he had all the sweetness and softness of a European in
his countenance, too, especially when he smiled. His hair was long and
black, not curled like wool; his forehead very high and large; and a
great vivacity and sparkling sharpness in his eyes. The colour of his
skin was not quite black, but very tawny; and yet not an ugly, yellow,
nauseous tawny, as the Brazilians and Virginians, and other natives of
America are, but of a bright kind of a dun olive-colour, that had in it
something very agreeable, though not very easy to describe. His face
was round and plump; his nose small, not flat, like the negroes; a very
good mouth, thin lips, and his fine teeth well set, and as white as
ivory.

After he had slumbered, rather than slept, about half-an-hour, he awoke
again, and came out of the cave to me, for I had been milking my goats
which I had in the enclosure just by: when he espied me he came running
to me, laying himself down again upon the ground, with all the possible
signs of an humble, thankful disposition, making a great many antic
gestures to show it. At last he lays his head flat upon the ground,
close to my foot, and sets my other foot upon his head, as he had done
before; and after this made all the signs to me of subjection,
servitude, and submission imaginable, to let me know how he would serve
me so long as he lived. I understood him in many things, and let him
know I was very well pleased with him. In a little time I began to
speak to him; and teach him to speak to me; and first, I let him know
his name should be Friday, which was the day I saved his life; I called
him so for the memory of the time. I likewise taught him to say Master;
and then let him know that was to be my name; I likewise taught him to
say Yes and No and to know the meaning of them. I gave him some milk in
an earthen pot, and let him see me drink it before him, and sop my
bread in it; and gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which he
quickly complied with, and made signs that it was very good for him. I
kept there with him all that night; but as soon as it was day I
beckoned to him to come with me, and let him know I would give him some
clothes; at which he seemed very glad, for he was stark naked. As we
went by the place where he had buried the two men, he pointed exactly
to the place, and showed me the marks that he had made to find them
again, making signs to me that we should dig them up again and eat
them. At this I appeared very angry, expressed my abhorrence of it,
made as if I would vomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned with my
hand to him to come away, which he did immediately, with great
submission. I then led him up to the top of the hill, to see if his
enemies were gone; and pulling out my glass I looked, and saw plainly
the place where they had been, but no appearance of them or their
canoes; so that it was plain they were gone, and had left their two
comrades behind them, without any search after them.

But I was not content with this discovery; but having now more courage,
and consequently more curiosity, I took my man Friday with me, giving
him the sword in his hand, with the bow and arrows at his back, which I
found he could use very dexterously, making him carry one gun for me,
and I two for myself; and away we marched to the place where these
creatures had been; for I had a mind now to get some further
intelligence of them. When I came to the place my very blood ran chill
in my veins, and my heart sunk within me, at the horror of the
spectacle; indeed, it was a dreadful sight, at least it was so to me,
though Friday made nothing of it. The place was covered with human
bones, the ground dyed with their blood, and great pieces of flesh left
here and there, half-eaten, mangled, and scorched; and, in short, all
the tokens of the triumphant feast they had been making there, after a
victory over their enemies. I saw three skulls, five hands, and the
bones of three or four legs and feet, and abundance of other parts of
the bodies; and Friday, by his signs, made me understand that they
brought over four prisoners to feast upon; that three of them were
eaten up, and that he, pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there
had been a great battle between them and their next king, of whose
subjects, it seems, he had been one, and that they had taken a great
number of prisoners; all which were carried to several places by those
who had taken them in the fight, in order to feast upon them, as was
done here by these wretches upon those they brought hither.

I caused Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and whatever
remained, and lay them together in a heap, and make a great fire upon
it, and burn them all to ashes. I found Friday had still a hankering
stomach after some of the flesh, and was still a cannibal in his
nature; but I showed so much abhorrence at the very thoughts of it, and
at the least appearance of it, that he durst not discover it: for I
had, by some means, let him know that I would kill him if he offered
it.

When he had done this, we came back to our castle; and there I fell to
work for my man Friday; and first of all, I gave him a pair of linen
drawers, which I had out of the poor gunner’s chest I mentioned, which
I found in the wreck, and which, with a little alteration, fitted him
very well; and then I made him a jerkin of goat’s skin, as well as my
skill would allow (for I was now grown a tolerably good tailor); and I
gave him a cap which I made of hare’s skin, very convenient, and
fashionable enough; and thus he was clothed, for the present, tolerably
well, and was mighty well pleased to see himself almost as well clothed
as his master. It is true he went awkwardly in these clothes at first:
wearing the drawers was very awkward to him, and the sleeves of the
waistcoat galled his shoulders and the inside of his arms; but a little
easing them where he complained they hurt him, and using himself to
them, he took to them at length very well.

The next day, after I came home to my hutch with him, I began to
consider where I should lodge him: and that I might do well for him and
yet be perfectly easy myself, I made a little tent for him in the
vacant place between my two fortifications, in the inside of the last,
and in the outside of the first. As there was a door or entrance there
into my cave, I made a formal framed door-case, and a door to it, of
boards, and set it up in the passage, a little within the entrance;
and, causing the door to open in the inside, I barred it up in the
night, taking in my ladders, too; so that Friday could no way come at
me in the inside of my innermost wall, without making so much noise in
getting over that it must needs awaken me; for my first wall had now a
complete roof over it of long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning
up to the side of the hill; which was again laid across with smaller
sticks, instead of laths, and then thatched over a great thickness with
the rice-straw, which was strong, like reeds; and at the hole or place
which was left to go in or out by the ladder I had placed a kind of
trap-door, which, if it had been attempted on the outside, would not
have opened at all, but would have fallen down and made a great
noise—as to weapons, I took them all into my side every night. But I
needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more faithful,
loving, sincere servant than Friday was to me: without passions,
sullenness, or designs, perfectly obliged and engaged; his very
affections were tied to me, like those of a child to a father; and I
daresay he would have sacrificed his life to save mine upon any
occasion whatsoever—the many testimonies he gave me of this put it out
of doubt, and soon convinced me that I needed to use no precautions for
my safety on his account.

This frequently gave me occasion to observe, and that with wonder, that
however it had pleased God in His providence, and in the government of
the works of His hands, to take from so great a part of the world of
His creatures the best uses to which their faculties and the powers of
their souls are adapted, yet that He has bestowed upon them the same
powers, the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of
kindness and obligation, the same passions and resentments of wrongs,
the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the
capacities of doing good and receiving good that He has given to us;
and that when He pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these,
they are as ready, nay, more ready, to apply them to the right uses for
which they were bestowed than we are. This made me very melancholy
sometimes, in reflecting, as the several occasions presented, how mean
a use we make of all these, even though we have these powers
enlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God, and by
the knowledge of His word added to our understanding; and why it has
pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so many millions of
souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage, would make a much
better use of it than we did. From hence I sometimes was led too far,
to invade the sovereignty of Providence, and, as it were, arraign the
justice of so arbitrary a disposition of things, that should hide that
sight from some, and reveal it to others, and yet expect a like duty
from both; but I shut it up, and checked my thoughts with this
conclusion: first, that we did not know by what light and law these
should be condemned; but that as God was necessarily, and by the nature
of His being, infinitely holy and just, so it could not be, but if
these creatures were all sentenced to absence from Himself, it was on
account of sinning against that light which, as the Scripture says, was
a law to themselves, and by such rules as their consciences would
acknowledge to be just, though the foundation was not discovered to us;
and secondly, that still as we all are the clay in the hand of the
potter, no vessel could say to him, “Why hast thou formed me thus?”

But to return to my new companion. I was greatly delighted with him,
and made it my business to teach him everything that was proper to make
him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and
understand me when I spoke; and he was the aptest scholar that ever
was; and particularly was so merry, so constantly diligent, and so
pleased when he could but understand me, or make me understand him,
that it was very pleasant for me to talk to him. Now my life began to
be so easy that I began to say to myself that could I but have been
safe from more savages, I cared not if I was never to remove from the
place where I lived.