by Daniel Defoe
signals, they very kindly brought to,and lay by for me; and in about three hours' time I came up with them.
They asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and in French,but I understood none of them; but, at last, a Scotch sailor, who was onboard, called to me, and I answered him, and told him I was anEnglishman, that I had made my escape out of slavery from the Moors, atSallee: they then bade me come on board, and very kindly took me in, andall my goods.
It was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one will believe, that Iwas thus delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable, and almosthopeless, condition as I was in; and I immediately offered all I had tothe captain of the ship, as a return for my deliverance; but hegenerously told me, he would take nothing from me, but that all I hadshould be delivered safe to me, when I came to the Brazils. "For," sayshe, "I have saved your life on no other terms than I would be glad to besaved myself; and it may, one time or other, be my lot to be taken up inthe same condition. Besides," continued he, "when I carry you to theBrazils, so great a way from your own country, if I should take from youwhat you have, you will be starved there, and then I only take away thatlife I have given. No, no, Seignior Inglese," (Mr. Englishman,) says he;"I will carry you thither in charity, and these things will help to buyyour 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 shouldoffer to touch any thing I had: then he took every thing into his ownpossession, and gave me back an exact inventory of them, that I mighthave them, even so much as my three earthen jars.
As to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told me hewould buy it of me for the ship's use; and asked me what I would havefor it? I told him, he had been so generous to me in every thing, that Icould not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely tohim: upon which, he told me he would give me a note of hand to pay meeighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil; and when it came there, if anyone offered to give more, he would make it up. He offered me also sixtypieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was loth to take; not thatI was not willing to let the captain have him, but I was very loth tosell the poor boy's liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully inprocuring my own. However, when I let him know my reason, he owned it tobe just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy anobligation to set him free in ten years, if he turned Christian: uponthis, and Xury saying he was willing to go to him, I let thecaptain have him.
We had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and arrived in the Bay deTodos los Santos, or All Saints' Bay, in about twenty-two days after.And now I was once more delivered from the most miserable of allconditions of life; and what to do next with myself, I was nowto consider.
The generous treatment the captain gave me, I can never enough remember:he would take nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats forthe leopard's skin, and forty for the lion's skin, which I had in myboat, and caused every thing I had in the ship to be punctuallydelivered to me; and what I was willing to sell, he bought of me; suchas the case of bottles, two of my guns, and a piece of the lump ofbees-wax,--for I had made candles of the rest: in a word, I made abouttwo hundred and twenty pieces of eight of all my cargo; and with thisstock, I went on shore in the Brazils.
I had not been long here, before I was recommended to the house of agood honest man, like himself, who had an ingeino as they call it, (thatis, a plantation and a sugar-house.) I lived with him some time, andacquainted myself, by that means, with the manner of planting and makingof sugar: and seeing how well the planters lived, and how they got richsuddenly, I resolved, if I could get a licence to settle there, I wouldturn planter among them: endeavouring, in the mean time, to find outsome way to get my money, which I had left in London, remitted to me. Tothis purpose, getting a kind of a letter of naturalization, I purchasedas much land that was uncured as my money would reach, and formed a planfor my plantation and settlement; such a one as might be suitable to thestock which I proposed to myself to receive from England.
I had a neighbour, a Portuguese of Lisbon, but: born of English parents,whose name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was. I callhim my neighbour, because his plantation lay next to mine, and we wenton very sociably together. My stock was but low, as well as his; and werather planted for food than any thing else, for about two years.However, we began to increase, and our land began to come into order; sothat Ihe third year we planted some tobacco, and made each of us a largepiece of ground ready for planting canes in the year to come: but weboth wanted help; and now I found, more than before, I had done wrong inparting with my boy Xury.
But, alas! for me to do wrong, that never did right, was no greatwonder. I had no remedy, but to go on: I had got into an employmentquite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life I delightedin, and for which I forsook my father's house, and broke through all hisgood advice: nay, I was coining into the very middle station, or upperdegree of low life, which my father advised me to before; and which, ifI resolved to go on with, I might as well have staid at home, and neverhave fatigued myself in the world, as I had done: and I used often tosay to myself, I could have done this as well in England, among myfriends, as have gone five thousand miles off to do it among strangersand savages, in a wilderness, and at such a distance as never to hearfrom any part of the world that had the least knowledge of me.
In this manner, I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret.I had nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no workto be done, but by the labour of my hands: and I used to say, I livedjust like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that had nobodythere but himself. But how just has it been! and how should all menreflect, that when they compare their present conditions with othersthat are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and beconvinced of their former felicity by their experience: I say, how justhas it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on, in an islandof mere desolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustly comparedit with 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 took meup at sea, went back; for the ship remained there, in providing hislading, and preparing for his voyage, near three months; when, tellinghim what little stock I had left behind me in London, he gave me thisfriendly and sincere advice: "Seignior Inglese," says he, for so healways called me, "if you will give me letters, and a procuration herein form to me, with orders to the person who has your money in London,to send your effects to Lisbon, to such persons as I shall direct, andin such goods as are proper for this country, I will bring you theproduce of them, God willing, at my return; but, since human affairs areall subject to changes and disasters, I would have you give orders forbut one hundred pounds sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, andlet the hazard be run for the first, so that if it come safe, you mayorder the rest the same way; and, if it miscarry, you may have the otherhalf to have recourse to for your supply."
This was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I could notbut be convinced it was the best course I could take; so I accordinglyprepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I left my money, and aprocuration to the Portuguese captain, as he desired me.
I wrote the English captain's widow a full account of all my adventures;my slavery, escape, and how I had met with the Portuguese captain atsea, the humanity of his behaviour, and what condition I was now in,with all other necessary directions for my supply; and when this honestcaptain came to Lisbon, he found means, by some of the English merchantsthere, to send over, not the order only, but a full account of my storyto a merchant at London, who represented it effectually to her:whereupon she not only delivered the money, but, out of her own pocket,sent the Portuguese captain a very handsome present for his humanity andcharity to me.
The merc
hant in London, vesting this hundred pounds in English goods,such as the captain had wrote for, sent them directly to him at Lisbon,and he brought them all safe to me at the Brazils: among which, withoutmy direction, (for I was too young in my business to think of them,) hehad taken care to have all sorts of tools, iron work, and utensils,necessary for my plantation, and which were of great use to me.
When this cargo arrived, I thought my fortune made, for I was surprisedwith the joy of it; and my good steward, the captain, had laid out thefive pounds, which my friend had sent him as a present for himself, topurchase and bring me over a servant, under bond for six years' service,and would not accept of any consideration, except a little tobacco,which I would have him accept, being of my own produce.
Neither was this all: but my goods being all English manufactures, suchas cloths, stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable and