Captain Singleton

by Daniel Defoe

long, and the Hair of his Head and face strangely covered him to the Middle of

  his Back and Breast, he was white, and his Skin very fine, tho' discoloured, and

  in some Places blistered and covered with a brown blackish Substance, scurfy,

  scaly, and hard which was the Effect of the scorching Heat of the Sun; he was

  stark naked, and had been so, as he told us, upwards of two Years.

  He was so exceedingly transported at our meeting with him, that he could scarce

  enter into any Discourse at all with us for that Day, and when he could get away

  from us for a little, we saw him walking alone, and shewing all the most

  extravagant Tokens of an ungovernable Joy; and even afterwards he was never

  without Tears in his Eyes for several Days, upon the least Word spoken by us of

  his Circumstances, or by him of his Deliverance.

  We found his Behaviour the most courteous and endearing I ever saw in any Man

  whatever, and most evident Tokens of a mannerly well-bred Person, appeared in

  all things he did or said; and our People were exceedingly taken with him. He

  was a Scholar, and a Mathematician; he could not speek Portuguese indeed, but he

  spoke Latin to our Surgeon, French to another of our Men, and Italian to a

  Third.

  He had no Leisure in his Thoughts to ask us whence we came, whither we were

  going, or who we were; but would have it always as an Answer to himself, that to

  be sure wherever we were a-going, we came from Heaven, and were sent on purpose

  to save him from the most wretched Condition that ever Man was reduced to.

  Our Men pitching their Camp on the Bank of a little River opposite to him, he

  began to enquire what Store of Provision we had, and how we proposed to be

  supplied; when he found that our Store was but small, he said he would talk with

  the Natives, and we should have Provisions enough; for he said they were the

  most courteous, good natured Part of the Inhabitants in all that Part of the

  Country, as, we might suppose by his living so safe among them.

  The first things this Gentleman did for us were indeed of the greatest

  Consequence to us; for first he perfectly informed us where we were, and which

  was the properest Course for us to steer: secondly, he put us in a Way how to

  furnish our selves effectually with Provisions; and Thirdly, he was our compleat

  Interpreter and Peace-maker with all the Natives, who now began to be very

  numerous about us; and who were a more fierce and politick People than those we

  had met with before; not so easily terrified with our Arms as those, and not so

  ignorant, as to give their Provisions and Corn forour little Toys, such as I

  said before our Artificer made; but as they had frequently traded and conversed

  with the Europeans on the Coast, or with other Negro Nations that had traded and

  been concerned with them, they were the less ignorant, and the less fearful, and

  consequently nothing was to be had from them but by Exchange for such things as

  they liked.

  This I say of the Negro Natives, which we soon came among; but as to these poor

  People that he lived among, they were not much acquainted with Things, being at

  the Distance of above 300 Miles from the Coast, only that they found Elephants

  Teeth upon the Hills to the North, which they took and carried about sixty or

  seventy Miles South, where other trading Negroes usually met them, and gave them

  Beads Glass, Shels, and Cowries for them, such as the English and Dutch and

  other Traders, furnish them with from Europe.

  We now began to be more familiar with our new Acquaintance; and first, tho' we

  made but a sorry Figure as to Clothes our selves, having neither Shoe, or

  Stocking, or Glove or Hat among us, and but very few Shirts, yet as well as we

  could we clothed him; and first our Surgeon having Scissers and Razors, shaved

  him, and cut his Hair; a Hat, as I say, we had not in all our Stores, but he

  supply'd himself by making himself a Cap of a Piece of a Leopard Skin, most

  artificially. As for Shoes or Stockings, he had gone so long without them, that

  he cared not even for the Buskins and Foot-Gloves we wore, which I described

  above.

  As he had been curious to hear the whole Story of our Travels, and was

  exceedingly delighted with the Relation; so we were no less to know, and pleased

  with the Account of his Circumstance, and the History of his coming to that

  strange Place alone, and in that Condition, which we found him in, as above.

  This Account of his would indeed be in it self the Subject of an agreeable

  History, and would be as long and as diverting as our own, having in it many

  strange and extraordinary Incidents, but we cannot have Room here to launch out

  into so long a Digression; the Sum of his History was this.

  He had been a Factor for the English Guiney Company at Siera Leon, or some other

  of their Settlements which had been taken by the French, where he had been

  plundered of all his own Effects, as well as of what was intrusted to him by the

  Company. Whether it was, that the Company did not do him Justice in restoring

  his Circumstances, or in further employing him, he quitted their Service, and

  was employed by those they called Separate Traders; and being afterwards out of

  Employ there also, traded on his own Account; when passing unwarily into one of

  the Company's Settlements, he was either betray'd into the Hands of some of the

  Natives, or some how or other was surprized by them. However, as they did not

  kill him, he found Means to escape from them at that time, and fled to another

  Nation of the Natives, who being Enemies to the other, entertained him friendly,

  and with them he lived some time; but not liking his Quarters, or his Company,

  he fled again, and several times changed his Landlords; sometimes was carry'd by

  Force, sometimes hurried by Fear, as Circumstances altered with him (the Variety

  of which deserves a History by it self) till at last he had wandred beyond all

  Possibility of Return, and had taken up his Abode where we found him, where he

  was well received by the petty King of the Tribe he lived with; and he, in

  Return, instructed them how to value the Product of their Labour, and on what

  Terms to trade with those Negroes who came up to them for Teeth.

  As he was naked, and had no Clothes, so he was naked of Arms for his Defence,

  having neither Gun, Sword, Staff, or any Instrument of War about him, no not to

  guard himself against the Attacks of a wild Beast, of which the Country was very

  full. We asked him how he came to be so entirely abandoned of all Concern for

  his Safety? He answered, That to him that had so often wish'd for Death, Life

  was not worth defending; and that as he was entirely at the Mercy of the

  Negroes, they had much the more Confidence in him, seeing he had no Weapons to

  hurt them. As for wild Beasts, he was not much concerned about that; for he

  scarce ever went from his Hutt; but if he did, the Negroe King and his Men went

  all with him, and they were all armed with Bows and Arrows, and Lances, with

  which they would kill any of the ravenous Creatures, Lions as well as others;

  but that they seldom came abroad in the Day; and if the Negroes wander any where

/>   in the Night, they always build a Hutt for themselves, and make a Fire at the

  Door of it, which is Guard enough.

  We enquired of him, what we should next do towards getting to the Sea-side; he

  told us we were about 120 English Leagues from the Coast, where almost all the

  European Settlements and Factories were, and which is called the Gold Coast; but

  that there were so many different Nations of Negroes in the Way, that it was ten

  to one if we were not either fought with continually, or starv'd for Want of

  Provisions: But that there were two other Ways to go, which, if he had had any

  Company to go with him, he had often contrived to make his Escape by. The one

  was to travel full West, which, tho' it was farther to go, yet was not so full

  of People; and the People we should find, would be so much the civiller to us,

  or be so much the easier to fight with: Or, that the other Way was, if possible,

  to get to the Rio Grand, and go down the Stream in Canoes. We told him, that was

  the Way we had resolved on before we met with him; but then he told us, there

  was a prodigious Desart to go over, and as prodigious Woods to go thro,' before

  we came to it, and that both together were at least twenty Days March for us,

  travel as hard as we could.

  We ask'd him, if there were no Horses in the Country, or Asses, or even Bullocks

  or Buffloes to make use of in such a Journey, and we shewed him ours, of which

  we had but three left; he said No, all the Country did not afford any thing of

  that kind.

  He told us, that in this great Wood there were innumerable Numbers of Elephants,

  and upon the Desart, great Multitudes of Lions, Linxes, Tygers, and Leopards,

  &c. and that it was to that Wood, and to that Desart that the Negroes went to

  get Elephants Teeth, where they never failed to find a great Number.

  We enquired still more, and particularly the Way to the Gold Coast, and if there

  were no Rivers to ease us in our Carriage; and told him, as to the Negroes

  fighting with us, we were not much concern'd at that; nor were we afraid of

  starving; for if they had any Victuals among them, we would have our Share of

  it: And therefore, if he would venture to shew us the Way, we would venture to

  go; and as for himself, we told him we would live and dye together, there should

  not a Man of us stir from him.

  He told us, with all his Heart, if we resolv'd it, and would venture, we might

  be assured he would take his Fate with us, and he would endeavour to guide us

  such a Way, as we should meet with some friendly Savages who would use us well,

  and perhaps stand by us against some others who were less tractable: So, in a

  Word, we all resolved to go full South for the Gold Coast.

  The next Morning he came to us again, and being all met in Council, as we may

  call it, he began to talk very seriously with us, that since we were now come

  after a long Journey to a View of the End of our Troubles, and had been so

  obliging to him, as to offer Carrying him with us, he had been all Night

  revolving in his Mind what he and we all might do to make our selves some Amends

  for all our Sorrows; and first he said, he was to let me know, that we were just

  then in one of the richest Parts of the World, tho' it was really otherwise, but

  a desolate, disconsolate Wilderness; for says he, there's not a River here but

  runs Gold, not a Desart but without Plowing bears a Crop of Ivory. What Mines of

  Gold, what immense Stores of Gold those Mountains may contain, from whence these

  Rivers come, or the Shores which these Waters run by, we know not, but may

  imagine that they must be inconceivably rich, seeing so much is washed down the

  Stream by the Water washing the Sides of the Land, that the Quantity suffices

  all the Traders which the European World send thither. We ask'd him how far they

  went for it, seeing the Ships only trade upon the Coast. He told us, that the

  Negroes on the Coast search the Rivers up for the Length of 150 or 200 Miles,

  and would be out a Month or two or three at a Time, and always come Home

  sufficiently rewarded; but, says he, they never come thus far, and yet

  hereabouts is as much Gold as there. Upon this he told us, that he believed he

  might have gotten a Hundred Pound Weight of Gold, since he came thither, if he

  had employed himself to look and work for it, but as he knew not what to do with

  it, and had long since despaired of being ever delivered from the Misery he was

  in, he had entirely omitted it. For what Advantage had it been to me, said he,

  or what richer had I been, if I had a Ton of Gold Dust, and lay and wallowed in

  it; the Richness of it, said he, would not give me one Moment's Felicity, or

  relieve me in the present Exigency. Nay, says he, as you all see, it would not

  buy me Clothes to cover me, or a Drop of Drink to save me from perishing. 'Tis

  of no Value here, says he; there are several People among these Hutts that would

  weigh Gold against a few Glass Beads, or a Cockle-Shell, and give you a Handful

  of Gold Dust for a Handful of Cowries. N. B. These are little Shells which our

  Children call Blackamores Teeth.

  When he had said thus, he pulled out a Piece of an earthen Pot baked hard in the

  Sun: Here says he, is some of the Dirt of this Country, and if I would, I could

  have got a great deal more; and shewing it to us, I believe there was between

  two and three Pound Weight of Gold Dust, of the same Kind and Colour with that

  we had gotten already, as before. After we had look'd at it a while, he told us

  smiling, we were his Deliverers, and all he had, as well as his Life, was ours;

  and therefore, as this would be of Value to us when we came to our own Country,

  so he desired we would accept of it among us, and that this was the only time

  that he had repented that he had pickt up no more of it.

  I spoke for him as his Interpreter to my Comrades, and in their Names thank'd

  him; but speaking to them in Portuguese, I desired them to refer the Accepting

  his Kindness to the next Morning, and so I did, telling him we would farther

  talk of this Part in the Morning; so we parted for that time.

  When he was gone, I found they were all wonderfully affected with his Discourse,

  and with the Generosity of his Temper, as well as the Magnificence of his

  Present, which in another Place had been extraordinary. Upon the whole, not to

  detain you with Circumstances, we agreed, that seeing he was now one of our

  Number, and that as we were a Relief to him in carrying him out of the dismal

  Condition he was in, so he was equally a Relief to us, in being our Guide thro'

  the rest of the Country, our Interpreter with the Natives, and our Director how

  to manage with the Savages, and how to enrich our selves with the Wealth of the

  Country; that therefore we would put his Gold among our common Stock, and every

  one should give him as much as would make his up just as much as any single

  Share of our own, and for the future we would take our Lot together, taking his

  solemn Engagement to us, as we had before one to another, that we would not

  conceal the least Grain of Gold we found, one from another.

  In the next Conference we acquainted him with the A
dventures of the Golden

  River, and how we had shared what we got there; so that every Man had a larger

  Stock than he for his Share; that therefore instead of taking any from him, we

  had resolved every one to add a little to him. He appeared very glad that we had

  met with such good Success, but would not take a Grain from us, till at last

  pressing him very hard, he told us, that then he would take it thus: That when

  we came to get any more, he would have so much out of the first as should make

  him even, and then we would go on as equal Adventurers; and thus we agreed.

  He then told us, he thought it would not be an unprofitable Adventure, if before

  we set forward, and after we had got a Stock of Provisions, we should make a

  Journey North to the Edge of the Desart he had told us of, from whence our

  Negroes might bring every one a large Elephant's Tooth, and that he would get

  some more to assist; and that after a certain Length of Carriage, they might be

  conveyed by Canoes to the Coast, where they would yield a very great Profit.

  I objected against this, on Account of our other Design we had of getting Gold

  Dust; and that our Negroes, who, we knew would be faithful to us, would get much

  more by searching the Rivers for Gold for us, than by lugging a great Tooth of

  an Hundred and fifty Pound Weight, a Hundred Mile, or more, which would be an

  unsufferable Labour to them after so hard a Journey, and would certainly kill

  them.

  He acquiesced in the Justice of this Answer, but fain would have had us gone to

  see the woody Part of the Hills, and the Edge of the Desart, that we might see

  how the Elephants Teeth lay scattered up and down there; but when we told him

  the Story of what we had seen before, as is said above, he said no more.

  We stay'd here twelve Days, during which Time the Natives were very obliging to

  us, and brought us Fruits, Pompions, and a Root like Carrots, tho' of quite

  another Taste, but not unpleasant neither, and some Guiney Fowls whose Names we

  did not know. In short, they brought us Plenty of what they had, and we lived

  very well, and we gave them all such little Things as our Cutler had made, for

  he had now a whole Bag full of them.

  On the thirteenth Day we set forward, taking our new Gentleman with us. At

  Parting, the Negroe King sent two Savages with a Present to him, of some dried

  Flesh, but I do not remember what it was, and he gave him again three Silver

  Birds which our Cutler help'd him to, which I assure you was a Present for a

  King.

  We travelled now South, a little West, and here we found the first River for

  above 2000 Miles March, whose Water run South, all the rest running North or

  West. We followed this River, which was no bigger than a good large Brook in

  England, till it began to encrease its Water. Every now and then we found our

  Englishman went down as it were privately to the Water, which was to try the

  Land. At Length, after a Day's March upon this River, he came running up to us

  with his Hands full Sand, and saying Look here. Upon looking, we found that a

  good deal of Gold lay spangled among the Sand of the River. Now, says he, I

  think we may begin to work; so he divided our Negroes into Couples, and set them

  to Work, to search and wash the Sand and Ooze in the Bottom of the Water where

  it was not deep.

  In the first Day and a Quarter, our Men all together had gathered a Pound and

  two Ounces of Gold, or thereabouts; and as we found the Quantity encreased, the

  farther we went, we followed it about three Days, till another small Rivulet

  join'd the first, and then searching up the Stream, we found Gold there too; so

  we pitch'd our Camp in the Angle where the Rivers join'd, and we diverted our

  selves, as I may call it, in washing the Gold out of the Sand of the River, and

  in getting Provisions.