by Daniel Defoe
Gold, or the Value of any from another, during our whole Voyage till our Return
quite to Portugal, he should be obliged by us all to restore it again on the
Penalty of being disarm'd, and turn'd out of the Company, and of having no
Relief from us on any Account whatsoever. This was to prevent Wagering and
Playing for Money, which our Men were apt to do by several Means, and at several
Games, tho' they had neither Cards or Dice.
Having made this wholesom Agreement, we went chearfully to Work, and shew'd our
Negroes how to work for us; and working up the Stream on both Sides, and in the
Bottom of the River, we spent about three Weeks Time dabbling in the Water; by
which time, as it lay all in our Way, we had gone about six Miles, and not more;
and still the higher we went, the more Gold we found; till at last, having
pass'd by the Side of a Hill, we perceived on a sudden, that the Gold stopp'd,
and that there was not a Bit taken up beyond that Place; it presently occurr'd
to my Mind, that it must then be from the Side of that little Hill that all the
Gold we found was work'd down.
Upon this, we went back to the Hill, and fell to Work with that. We found the
Earth loose, and of a yellowish loamy Colour, and in some Places, a white hard
Kind of Stone, which in describing since to some of our Artists, they tell me
was the Spar which is found by the Oar, and surrounds it in the Mine. However,
if it had been all Gold, we had no Instrument to force it out; so we passed
that: But scratching into the loose Earth with our Fingers, we came to a
surprizing Place, where the Earth for the Quantity of two Bushels, I believe, or
thereabouts, crumbled down with little more than touching it, and apparently
shewed us that there was a great deal of Gold in it. We took it all carefully
up, and washing it in the Water, the loamy Earth wash'd away, and left the Gold
Dust free in our Hands; and that which was more remarkable, was, that when this
loose Earth was all taken away, and we came to the Rock or hard Stone, there was
not one Grain of Gold more to be found.
At Night we came all together to see what we had got, and it appeared we had
found in that Day's Heap of Earth, about Seven and Fifty Pound Weight of Gold
Dust, and about Thirty Four Pound more in all the rest of our Works in the
River.
It was a happy Kind of Disappointment to us, that we found a full Stop put to
our Work; for had the Quantity of Gold been ever so small, yet had any at all
come, I do not know when we should have given over; for having rummaged this
Place, and not finding the least Grain of Gold in any other Place, or in any of
the Earth there, except in that loose Parcel, we went quite back down the small
River again, working it over and over again, as long as we could find any thing
how small soever; and we did get six or seven Pound more the second time. Then
we went into the first River, and tried it up the Stream and down the Stream, on
the one Side and on the other. Up the Stream we found nothing, no not a Grain;
down the Stream we found very little, not above the Quantity of Half an Ounce in
two Miles working; so back we came again to the Golden River, as we justly
called it, and work'd it up the Stream and down the Stream twice more a-piece,
and every time we found some Gold, and perhaps might have done so, if we had
stay'd there till this time; but the Quantity was at last so small, and the Work
so much the harder, that we agreed by Consent to give it over, lest we should
fatigue our selves and our Negroes so, as to be quite unfit for our Journey.
When we had brought all our Purchase together, we had in the whole three Pound
and a Half of Gold to a Man, Share and Share alike, according to such a Weight
and Scale as our ingenious Cutler made for us to weigh it by, which he did
indeed by guess, but which, as he said he was sure was rather more than less,
and so it prov'd at last; for it was near two Ounces more than Weight in a
Pound. Besides this, there was seven or eight Pound Weight left, which we agreed
to leave in his Hands, to work it into such Shapes as we thought fit to give
away to such People as we might yet meet with, from whom we might have Occasion
to buy Provisions, or even to buy Friendship, or the like; and particularly we
gave about a Pound to our Black Prince, which he hammer'd and work'd by his own
indefatigable Hand, and some Tools our Artificer lent him, into little round
Bits, as round almost as Beads, tho' not exact in Shape, and drilling Holes
thro' them, put them all upon a String, and wore them about his black Neck, and
they look'd very well there I assure you; but he was many Months a-doing it. And
thus ended our first Golden Adventure.
We now began to discover what we had not troubled our Heads much about before;
and that was, that let the Country be good or bad that we were in, we could not
travel much farther, for a considerable time. We had been now five Months and
upwards in our Journey, and the Season began to change; and Nature told us, that
being in a Climate that had a Winter as well as a Summer, tho' of a differing
Kind from what our own Country produced, we were to expect a wet Season, and
such as we should not be able to travel in, as well by reason of the Rain it
self, as of the Floods which it would occasion wherever we should come; and tho'
we had been no Strangers to those wet Seasons in the Island of Madagascar, yet
we had not thought much of them since we begun our Travels; for setting out when
the Sun was about the Solstice, that is, when it was at the greatest Northern
Distance from us, we had found the Benefit of it in our Travels. But now it drew
near us apace, and we found it began to rain; upon which we called another
General Council, in which we debated our present Circumstances, and in
particular, whether we should go forward, or seek for a proper Place upon the
Bank of our Golden River, which had been so lucky to us to fix our Camp for the
Winter.
Upon the whole, it was resolved to abide where we were; and it was not the least
Part of our Happiness that we did so, as shall appear in its Place.
Having resolved upon this, our first Measures were to set our Negroes to Work,
to make Hutts or Houses for our Habitation; and this they did very dexterously;
only that we changed the Ground where we had at first intended it, thinking, as
indeed it happen'd, that the river might reach it upon any sudden Rain. Our Camp
was like a little Town, in which our Hutts were in the Center, having one large
one in the Center of them also, into which all our particular Lodgings opened;
so that none of us went into our Apartments, but thro' a publick Tent where we
all eat and drank together, and kept our Councils and Society, and our
Carpenters made us Tables, Benches, and Stools in Abundance, as many as we could
make use of.
We had no Need of Chimneys, it was hot enough without Fire; but yet we found our
selves at last oblig'd to keep a Fire every Night upon a particular Occasion:
For tho' we had in all other Respects a very pleasant and agreeable Scituation,
yet we were rather
worse troubled with the unwelcome Visits of wild Beasts here,
than in the Wilderness it self; for as the Deer, and other gentle Creatures came
hither for Shelter and Food, so the Lions, and Tigers, and Leopards, haunted
these Places continually for Prey.
When first we discovered this, we were so uneasy at it, that we thought of
removing our Scituation; but after many Debates about it, we resolved to fortify
our selves in such a Manner, as not to be in any Danger from it; and this our
Carpenters undertook, who first palisadoed our Camp quite round with long Stakes
(for we had Wood enough) which Stakes were not stuck in one by another like
Pales, but in an irregular Manner; a great Multitude of them so placed, that
they took up near two Yards in Thickness, some higher, some lower, all sharpened
at the Top, and about a Foot asunder; so that had any Creature jump'd at them,
unless he had gone clean over, which it was very hard to do, he would be hung
upon twenty or thirty Spikes.
The Entrance into this, had larger Stakes than the rest, placed so before one
another, as to make three or four short Turnings, which no four-footed Beast
bigger than a Dog could possibly come in at; and that we might not be attack'd
by any Multitude together, and consequently be alarm'd in our Sleep, as we had
been, or be oblig'd to waste our Ammunition, which we were very chary of, we
kept a great Fire every Night without the Entrance of our Palisade, having a
Hutt for our two Centinels to stand in free from the Rain, just within the
Entrance, and right against the Fire.
To maintain this Fire, we cut a prodigious deal of Wood, and piled it upon a
Heap to dry, and with the green Boughs made a second Covering over our Hutts, so
high and thick, that it might cast the Rain off from the first, and keep us
effectually dry.
We had scarce finished all these Works, but that the Rain came on so fierce, and
so continued, that we had little time to stir abroad for Food, except indeed
that our Negroes, who wore no Clothes, seem'd to make nothing of the Rain, tho'
to us Europeans in those hot Climates, nothing is more dangerous.
We continued in this Posture for four Months, that is, from the Middle of June
to the Middle of October; for tho' the Rains went off, at least the greatest
Violence of them, about the Equinox, yet as the Sun was then just over our
Heads, we resolved to stay a while till it was pass'd us a little to the
Southward.
During our Encampment here, we had several Adventures with the ravenous
Creatures of that Country, and had not our Fire been always kept burning, I
question much whether all our Fence, tho' we strengthen'd it afterwards with
twelve or fourteen Rows of Stakes more, would have kept us secure. It was always
in the Night that we had the Disturbance of them, and sometimes they came in
such Multitudes, that we thought all the Lions, and Tigers, and Leopards, and
Wolves of Africa were come together to attack us. One Night being clear
Moonshine, one of our Men being upon the Watch, told us, he verily believed he
saw Ten Thousand wild Creatures of one Sort or another, pass by our little Camp;
and ever as they saw the Fire, they sheer'd off, but were sure to howl or roar,
or whatever it was, when they were past.
The Musick of their Voices was very far from being pleasant to us, and sometimes
would be so very disturbing, that we could not sleep for it; and often our
Centinels would call us, that were awake to come and look at them. It was one
windy tempestuous Night after a very rainy Day, that we were indeed all called
up; for such innumerable Numbers of Devilish Creatures came about us, that our
Watch really thought they would attack us. They would not come on the Side where
the Fire was; and tho' we thought our selves secure every where else, yet we all
got up, and took to our Arms. The Moon was near the Full, but the Air full of
flying Clouds, and a strange Hurricane of Wind to add to the Terror of the
Night; when looking on the Back Part of our Camp, I thought I saw a Creature
within our Fortification, and so indeed he was, except his Haunches; for he had
taken a running Leap, I suppose, and with all his Might had thrown himself clear
over our Palisadoes, except one strong Pile which stood higher than the rest,
and which had caught hold of him, and by his Weight he had hang'd himself upon
it, the Spike of the Pile running into his Hinder-Haunch or Thigh, on the
Inside, and by that he hung growling and biting the Wood for Rage. I snatcht up
a Lance from one of the Negroes that stood just by me, and running to him,
struck it three or four Times into him, and dispatch'd him; being unwilling to
shoot, because I had a Mind to have a Volley fired among the rest, whom I could
see standing without as thick as a Drove of Bullocks going to a Fair. I
immediately called our People out, and shewed them the Object of Terror which I
had seen, and without any farther Consultation, fired a full Volley among them,
most of our Pieces being loaden with two or three Sluggs or Bullets a-piece. It
made a horrible Clutter among them, and in general they all took to their Heels,
only that we could observe, that some walk'd off with more Gravity and Majesty
than others, being not so much frighted at the Noise and Fire; and we could
perceive that some were left upon the Ground struggling as for Life, but we
durst not stir out to see what they were.
Indeed they stood so thick, and were so near us, that we could not well miss
killing or wounding some of them, and we believe they had certainly the Smell of
us, and of our Victuals we had been killing; for we had killed a Deer, and three
or four of those Creatures like Goats, the Day before; and some of the Offal had
been thrown out behind our Camp, and this we suppose drew them so much about us;
but we avoided it for the future.
Tho' the Creatures fled, yet we heard a frightful Roaring all Night at the Place
where they stood, which we supposed was from some that were wounded; and as soon
as Day came, we went out to see what Execution we had done, and, indeed, it was
a strange Sight; there were three Tygers and two Wolves quite killed, besides
the Creature I had killed within onr Palisado, which seem'd to be of an
ill-gendered kind, between a Tyger and a Leopard. Besides this, there was a
noble old Lion alive, but with both his Fore Legs broke, so that he could not
stir away, and he had almost beat himself to Death with struggling all Night;
and we found, that this was the wounded Soldier that had roared so loud, and
given us so much Disturbance: Our Surgeon, looking at him, smiled; Now, says he,
if I could be sure this Lion would be as grateful to me, as one of his Majesty's
Ancestors was to Andronicus the Roman Slave, I would certainly set both his Legs
again, and cure him. I had not heard the Story of Andronicus, so he told it me
at large; but as to the Surgeon, we told him, he had no Way to know whether the
Lion would do so or not, but to cure him first, and trust to his Honour; but he
had no Faith; so, to dispatch him, and put him out of his Torment, he
shot him
into the Head, and killed him, for which we called him the King-Killer ever
after.
Our Negroes found no less than five of these ravenous Creatures wounded and
dropt at a Distance from our Quarters; whereof, one was a Wolf, one a fine
spotted young Leopard, and the other were Creatures that we knew not what to
call them.
We had several more of these Gentle-folks about us after that, but no such
general Rendezvous of them as that was, any more; but this ill Effect it had to
us, that it frighted the Deer and other Creatures from our Neighbourhood, of
whose Company we were much more desirous, and who were necessary for our
Subsistence: However, our Negroes went out every Day a-Hunting, as they called
it, with Bow and Arrow, and they scarce ever failed of bringing us home
something or other; and particularly we found in this Part of the Country, after
the Rains had fallen some time, Abundance of Wild-fowl, such as we have in
England ; Duck, Teal, Widgeon, &c. some Geese, and some Kinds that we had never
seen before, and we frequently killed them. Also we catched a great Deal of
fresh Fish out of the River, so that we wanted no Provision; if we wanted any
thing, it was Salt to eat with our fresh Meat, but we had a little left, and we
used it sparingly; for, as to our Negroes, they would not taste it, nor did they
care to eat any Meat that was seasoned with it.
The Weather began now to clear up, the Rains were down, and the Floods abated,
and the Sun, which had passed our Zenith, was gone to the Southward a good Way,
so we prepared to go on of our Way.
It was the 12th of October or thereabouts, that we began to set forward, and
having an easy Country to travel in, as well as to supply us with Provisions,
tho' still without Inhabitants, we made more Dispatch, travelling some times, as
we calculated it 20 or 25 Miles a Day; nor did we halt any were in eleven Days
March, one Day excepted, which was to make a Raft to carry us over a small
River, which having swelled with the Rains was not yet quite down.
When we were past this River, which by the Way run to the Northward too, we
found a great Row of Hills in our Way; we saw indeed the Country open to the
Right at a great Distance, but as we kept true to our Course due West, we were
not willing to go a great Way out of our Way, only to shun a few Hills; so we
advanced; but we were surprized, when being not quite come to the Top, one of
our Company who with two Negroes was got up before us, cry'd out the Sea! the
Sea! and fell a-dancing and jumping as Signs of Joy.
The Gunner and I were most surprized at it, because we had but that Morning been
calculating, that we must have yet above a 1000 Miles to the Sea-side, and that
we could not expect to reach it till an other rainy Season would be upon us, so
that when our Man cry'd out the Sea, the Gunner was angry, and said he was mad.
But we were both in the greatest Surprize imaginable, when coming to the Top of
the Hill, and tho' it was very high, we saw nothing but Water, either before us,
or to the right Hand or the left, being a vast Sea without any Bound but the
Horizon.
We went down the Hill full of Confusion of Thought, not being able to conceive
whereabouts we were, or what it must be, seeing by all our Charts the Sea was
yet a vast Way off.
It was not above three Miles from the Hills before we came to the Shore, or
Water-edge of this Sea, and there, to our further Surprize, we found the Water
fresh and pleasant to drink; so that in short we knew not what Course to take:
The Sea, as we thought it to be, put a full stop to our Journey, (I mean
Westward) for it lay just in the Way. Our next Question was which Hand to turn
to, to the Right or the Left, but this was soon resolved; for as we knew not the
Extent of it, we considered that our Way, if it had been the Sea really, must be