by Daniel Defoe
hills.
I confess this side of the country was much pleasanter than mine, butyet I had not the least inclination to remove; for as I was fixed in myhabitation, it became natural to me, and I seemed all the while I washere to be, as it were, upon a journey, and from home: however, Itravelled along the shore of the sea towards the east, I suppose, abouttwelve miles; and then setting up a great pole upon the shore for amark, I concluded I would go home again; and the next journey I tookshould be on the other side of the island, east from my dwelling, and soround, till I came to my post again: of which in its place.
I took another way to come back than that I went, thinking I couldeasily keep all the island so much in my view, that I could not missfinding my first dwelling by viewing the country; but I found myselfmistaken; for being come about two or three miles, I found myselfdescended into a very large valley; but so surrounded with hills, andthose hills covered with woods, that I could not see which was my way byany direction but that of the sun; nor even then, unless I knew verywell the position of the sun at that time of the day.
It happened, to my farther misfortune, that the weather proved hazy forthree or four days, while I was in this valley; and not being able tosee the sun, I wandered about very uncomfortably, and at last wasobliged to find out the sea-side, look for my post, and come back thesame way I went; and then by easy journies I turned homeward, theweather being exceeding hot; and my gun, ammunition, hatchet, and otherthings, very heavy.
In this journey my dog surprised a young kid, and seized upon it; and Irunning in to take hold of it, caught it, and saved it alive from thedog. I had a great mind to bring it home, if I could; for I had oftenbeen musing whether it might not be possible to get a kid or two, and soraise a breed of tame goats, which might supply me when my powder andshot should be spent.
I made a collar for this little creature, and with a string which I madeof some rope-yarn, which I always carried about me, I led him along,though with some difficulty, till I came to my bower, and there Ienclosed him, and left him; for I was very impatient to be at home, fromwhence I had been absent above a month.
I cannot express what a satisfaction it was to me to come into my oldhutch, and lie down in my hammock-bed: this little wandering journey,without a settled place of abode, had been so unpleasant to me that myown house, as I called it to myself, was a perfect settlement to me,compared to that; and it rendered every thing about me so comfortable,that I resolved I would never go a great way from it again, while itshould be my lot to stay on the island.
I reposed myself here a week, to rest and regale myself after my longjourney; during which, most of the time was taken up in the weightyaffair of making a cage for my Pol, who began now to be a mere domestic,and to be mighty well acquainted with me. Then I began to think of thepoor kid, which I had pent in within my little circle, and resolved togo and fetch it home, and give it some food; accordingly I went, andfound it where I left it; for indeed it could not get out, but wasalmost starved for want of food; I went and cut boughs of trees andbranches of such shrubs as I could find, and threw it over, and havingfed it, I tied it as I did before to lead it away; but it was so tamewith being hungry, that I had no need to have tied it; for it followedme like a dog; and as I continually fed it, the creature became soloving, so gentle, and so fond, that it became from that time one of mydomestics also, and would never leave me afterwards.
The rainy season of the autumnal equinox was now come, and I kept the30th of September in the same solemn manner as before, being theanniversary of my landing on the island, having now been there twoyears, and no more prospect of being delivered than the first day I camethere. I spent the whole day in humble and thankful acknowledgments ofthe many wonderful mercies which my solitary condition was attendedwith, and without which it might have been infinitely more miserable. Igave humble and hearty thanks, that God had been pleased to discover tome even that it was possible I might be more happy in this solitarycondition than I should have been in a liberty of society, and in allthe pleasures of the world: that he could fully make up to me thedeficiencies of my solitary state, and the want of human society, by hispresence, and the communication of his grace to my soul, supporting,comforting, and encouraging me to depend upon his providence here, andhope for his eternal presence hereafter.
It was now that I began sensibly to feel how much more happy the life Inow led was, with all its miserable circumstances, than the wicked,cursed, abominable life I led all the past part of my days; and now,having changed both my sorrows and my joys, my very desires altered, myaffections changed their gust, and my delights were perfectly new fromwhat they were at first coming, or indeed for the two years past.
Before, as I walked about, either on my hunting, or for viewing thecountry, the anguish of my soul at my condition would break out upon meon a sudden, and my very heart would die within me, to think of thewoods, the mountains, the deserts I was in; and how I was a prisoner,locked up with the eternal bars and bolts of the ocean, in anuninhabited wilderness, without redemption. In the midst of the greatestcomposures of my mind, this would break out upon me like a storm, andmade me wring my hands, and weep like a child. Sometimes it would takeme in the middle of my work, and I would immediately sit down and sigh,and look upon the ground for an hour or two together, and this was stillworse to me; for if I could burst out into tears, or vent myself bywords, it would go off; and the grief, having exhausted itself,would abate.
But now I began to exercise myself with new thoughts; I daily read theword of God, and applied all the comforts of it to my present state. Onemorning being very sad, I opened the Bible upon these words, "I willnever, never leave thee, nor forsake thee!" Immediately it occurred,that these words were to me, why else should they be directed in such amanner, just at the moment when I was mourning over my condition, as oneforsaken of God and man? "Well then," said I, "if God does not forsakeme, of what ill consequence can it be, or what matters it, though theworld should all forsake me; seeing, on the other hand, if I had all theworld, and should lose the favour and blessing of God, there would be nocomparison in the loss?"
From this moment I began to conclude in my mind, that it was possiblefor me to be more happy in this forsaken, solitary condition, than itwas probable I should have ever been in any other particular state inthe world; and with this thought I was going to give thanks to God forbringing me to this place.
I know not what it was, but something shocked my mind at that thought,and I durst not speak the words, "How canst thou be such an hypocrite,"said I, even audibly, "to pretend to be thankful for a condition, which,however thou mayst endeavour to be contented with, thou wouldst ratherpray heartily to be delivered from?" So I stopped there; but though Icould not say I thanked God for being there, yet I sincerely gavethanks to God for opening my eyes, by whatever afflicting providences,to see the former condition, of my life, and to mourn for my wickedness,and repent. I never opened the Bible, or shut it, but my very soulwithin me blessed God for directing my friend in England, without anyorder of mine, to pack it up among my goods; and for assisting meafterwards to save it out of the wreck of the ship.
Thus, and in this disposition of mind, I began my third year; and thoughI have not given the reader the trouble of so particular an account ofmy works this year as at the first, yet in general it may be observed,that I was very seldom idle; having regularly divided my time, accordingto the several daily employments that were before me; such as, first, myduty to God, and reading the Scriptures, which I constantly set apartsome time for, thrice, every day: secondly, the going abroad with my gunfor food, which generally took me up three hours every morning when itdid not rain: thirdly, the ordering, curing, preserving, and cookingwhat I had killed or catched for my supply; these took up great part ofthe day: also it is to be considered, that in the middle of the day,when the sun was in the zenith, the violence of the heat was too greatto stir out; so that about four hours in the evening was all the time Icould be supposed to work in; with this exception, that so
metimes Ichanged my hours of hunting and working, and went to work in themorning, and abroad with my gun in the afternoon.
To this short time allowed for labour, I desire may be added theexceeding laboriousness of my work; the many hours, which for want oftools, want of help, and want of skill, every thing that I did, took upout of my time: for example, I was full two-and-forty days making me aboard for a long shelf, which I wanted in my cave; whereas two sawyers,with their tools and saw-pit, would have cut six of them out of the sametree in half a day.
My case was this: it was to be a large tree which was to be cut down,because my board was to be a broad one. The tree I was three days acutting down, and two more cutting off the boughs, and reducing it to alog, or piece of timber. With inexpressible hacking and hewing I reducedboth the sides of it into chips, till it began to be light enough tomove; then I turned it, and made one side of it smooth and flat, as aboard, from end to end: then