by Daniel Defoe
but lay for the most part in the villages, some of which were
fortified, because of the incursions of the Tartars. When we were
come to one of these towns (about two days and a half's journey
before we came to the city of Naum), I wanted to buy a camel, of
which there are plenty to be sold all the way upon that road, and
horses also, such as they are, because, so many caravans coming
that way, they are often wanted. The person that I spoke to to get
me a camel would have gone and fetched one for me; but I, like a
fool, must be officious, and go myself along with him; the place
was about two miles out of the village, where it seems they kept
the camels and horses feeding under a guard.
I walked it on foot, with my old pilot and a Chinese, being very
desirous of a little variety. When we came to the place it was a
low, marshy ground, walled round with stones, piled up dry, without
mortar or earth among them, like a park, with a little guard of
Chinese soldiers at the door. Having bought a camel, and agreed
for the price, I came away, and the Chinese that went with me led
the camel, when on a sudden came up five Tartars on horseback. Two
of them seized the fellow and took the camel from him, while the
other three stepped up to me and my old pilot, seeing us, as it
were, unarmed, for I had no weapon about me but my sword, which
could but ill defend me against three horsemen. The first that
came up stopped short upon my drawing my sword, for they are arrant
cowards; but a second, coming upon my left, gave me a blow on the
head, which I never felt till afterwards, and wondered, when I came
to myself, what was the matter, and where I was, for he laid me
flat on the ground; but my never-failing old pilot, the Portuguese,
had a pistol in his pocket, which I knew nothing of, nor the
Tartars either: if they had, I suppose they would not have
attacked us, for cowards are always boldest when there is no
danger. The old man seeing me down, with a bold heart stepped up
to the fellow that had struck me, and laying hold of his arm with
one hand, and pulling him down by main force a little towards him,
with the other shot him into the head, and laid him dead upon the
spot. He then immediately stepped up to him who had stopped us, as
I said, and before he could come forward again, made a blow at him
with a scimitar, which he always wore, but missing the man, struck
his horse in the side of his head, cut one of the ears off by the
root, and a great slice down by the side of his face. The poor
beast, enraged with the wound, was no more to be governed by his
rider, though the fellow sat well enough too, but away he flew, and
carried him quite out of the pilot's reach; and at some distance,
rising upon his hind legs, threw down the Tartar, and fell upon
him.
In this interval the poor Chinese came in who had lost the camel,
but he had no weapon; however, seeing the Tartar down, and his
horse fallen upon him, away he runs to him, and seizing upon an
ugly weapon he had by his side, something like a pole-axe, he
wrenched it from him, and made shift to knock his Tartarian brains
out with it. But my old man had the third Tartar to deal with
still; and seeing he did not fly, as he expected, nor come on to
fight him, as he apprehended, but stood stock still, the old man
stood still too, and fell to work with his tackle to charge his
pistol again: but as soon as the Tartar saw the pistol away he
scoured, and left my pilot, my champion I called him afterwards, a
complete victory.
By this time I was a little recovered. I thought, when I first
began to wake, that I had been in a sweet sleep; but, as I said
above, I wondered where I was, how I came upon the ground, and what
was the matter. A few moments after, as sense returned, I felt
pain, though I did not know where; so I clapped my hand to my head,
and took it away bloody; then I felt my head ache: and in a moment
memory returned, and everything was present to me again. I jumped
upon my feet instantly, and got hold of my sword, but no enemies
were in view: I found a Tartar lying dead, and his horse standing
very quietly by him; and, looking further, I saw my deliverer, who
had been to see what the Chinese had done, coming back with his
hanger in his hand. The old man, seeing me on my feet, came
running to me, and joyfully embraced me, being afraid before that I
had been killed. Seeing me bloody, he would see how I was hurt;
but it was not much, only what we call a broken head; neither did I
afterwards find any great inconvenience from the blow, for it was
well again in two or three days.
We made no great gain, however, by this victory, for we lost a
camel and gained a horse. I paid for the lost camel, and sent for
another; but I did not go to fetch it myself: I had had enough of
that.
The city of Naum, which we were approaching, is a frontier of the
Chinese empire, and is fortified in their fashion. We wanted, as I
have said, above two days' journey of this city when messengers
were sent express to every part of the road to tell all travellers
and caravans to halt till they had a guard sent for them; for that
an unusual body of Tartars, making ten thousand in all, had
appeared in the way, about thirty miles beyond the city.
This was very bad news to travellers: however, it was carefully
done of the governor, and we were very glad to hear we should have
a guard. Accordingly, two days after, we had two hundred soldiers
sent us from a garrison of the Chinese on our left, and three
hundred more from the city of Naum, and with these we advanced
boldly. The three hundred soldiers from Naum marched in our front,
the two hundred in our rear, and our men on each side of our
camels, with our baggage and the whole caravan in the centre; in
this order, and well prepared for battle, we thought ourselves a
match for the whole ten thousand Mogul Tartars, if they had
appeared; but the next day, when they did appear, it was quite
another thing.
CHAPTER XV--DESCRIPTION OF AN IDOL, WHICH THEY DESTROY
Early in the morning, when marching from a little town called
Changu, we had a river to pass, which we were obliged to ferry;
and, had the Tartars had any intelligence, then had been the time
to have attacked us, when the caravan being over, the rear-guard
was behind; but they did not appear there. About three hours
after, when we were entered upon a desert of about fifteen or
sixteen miles over, we knew by a cloud of dust they raised, that
the enemy was at hand, and presently they came on upon the spur.
Our Chinese guards in the front, who had talked so big the day
before, began to stagger; and the soldiers frequently looked behind
them, a certain sign in a soldier that he is just ready to run
away. My old pilot was of my mind; and being near me, called out,
"Seignior Inglese, these fellows must be encouraged, or they will
ruin us all; for if the Tartars c
ome on they will never stand it."-
-"If am of your mind," said I; "but what must be done?"--"Done?"
says he, "let fifty of our men advance, and flank them on each
wing, and encourage them. They will fight like brave fellows in
brave company; but without this they will every man turn his back."
Immediately I rode up to our leader and told him, who was exactly
of our mind; accordingly, fifty of us marched to the right wing,
and fifty to the left, and the rest made a line of rescue; and so
we marched, leaving the last two hundred men to make a body of
themselves, and to guard the camels; only that, if need were, they
should send a hundred men to assist the last fifty.
At last the Tartars came on, and an innumerable company they were;
how many we could not tell, but ten thousand, we thought, at the
least. A party of them came on first, and viewed our posture,
traversing the ground in the front of our line; and, as we found
them within gunshot, our leader ordered the two wings to advance
swiftly, and give them a salvo on each wing with their shot, which
was done. They then went off, I suppose to give an account of the
reception they were like to meet with; indeed, that salute cloyed
their stomachs, for they immediately halted, stood a while to
consider of it, and wheeling off to the left, they gave over their
design for that time, which was very agreeable to our
circumstances.
Two days after we came to the city of Naun, or Naum; we thanked the
governor for his care of us, and collected to the value of a
hundred crowns, or thereabouts, which we gave to the soldiers sent
to guard us; and here we rested one day. This is a garrison
indeed, and there were nine hundred soldiers kept here; but the
reason of it was, that formerly the Muscovite frontiers lay nearer
to them than they now do, the Muscovites having abandoned that part
of the country, which lies from this city west for about two
hundred miles, as desolate and unfit for use; and more especially
being so very remote, and so difficult to send troops thither for
its defence; for we were yet above two thousand miles from Muscovy
properly so called. After this we passed several great rivers, and
two dreadful deserts; one of which we were sixteen days passing
over; and on the 13th of April we came to the frontiers of the
Muscovite dominions. I think the first town or fortress, whichever
it may he called, that belonged to the Czar, was called Arguna,
being on the west side of the river Arguna.
I could not but feel great satisfaction that I was arrived in a
country governed by Christians; for though the Muscovites do, in my
opinion, but just deserve the name of Christians, yet such they
pretend to be, and are very devout in their way. It would
certainly occur to any reflecting man who travels the world as I
have done, what a blessing it is to be brought into the world where
the name of God and a Redeemer is known, adored, and worshipped;
and not where the people, given up to strong delusions, worship the
devil, and prostrate themselves to monsters, elements, horrid-
shaped animals, and monstrous images. Not a town or city we passed
through but had their pagodas, their idols, and their temples, and
ignorant people worshipping even the works of their own hands. Now
we came where, at least, a face of the Christian worship appeared;
where the knee was bowed to Jesus: and whether ignorantly or not,
yet the Christian religion was owned, and the name of the true God
was called upon and adored; and it made my soul rejoice to see it.
I saluted the brave Scots merchant with my first acknowledgment of
this; and taking him by the hand, I said to him, "Blessed be God,
we are once again amongst Christians." He smiled, and answered,
"Do not rejoice too soon, countryman; these Muscovites are but an
odd sort of Christians; and but for the name of it you may see very
little of the substance for some months further of our journey."--
"Well," says I, "but still it is better than paganism, and
worshipping of devils."--"Why, I will tell you," says he; "except
the Russian soldiers in the garrisons, and a few of the inhabitants
of the cities upon the road, all the rest of this country, for
above a thousand miles farther, is inhabited by the worst and most
ignorant of pagans." And so, indeed, we found it.
We now launched into the greatest piece of solid earth that is to
be found in any part of the world; we had, at least, twelve
thousand miles to the sea eastward; two thousand to the bottom of
the Baltic Sea westward; and above three thousand, if we left that
sea, and went on west, to the British and French channels: we had
full five thousand miles to the Indian or Persian Sea south; and
about eight hundred to the Frozen Sea north.
We advanced from the river Arguna by easy and moderate journeys,
and were very visibly obliged to the care the Czar has taken to
have cities and towns built in as many places as it is possible to
place them, where his soldiers keep garrison, something like the
stationary soldiers placed by the Romans in the remotest countries
of their empire; some of which I had read of were placed in
Britain, for the security of commerce, and for the lodging of
travellers. Thus it was here; for wherever we came, though at
these towns and stations the garrisons and governors were Russians,
and professed Christians, yet the inhabitants were mere pagans,
sacrificing to idols, and worshipping the sun, moon, and stars, or
all the host of heaven; and not only so, but were, of all the
heathens and pagans that ever I met with, the most barbarous,
except only that they did not eat men's flesh.
Some instances of this we met with in the country between Arguna,
where we enter the Muscovite dominions, and a city of Tartars and
Russians together, called Nortziousky, in which is a continued
desert or forest, which cost us twenty days to travel over. In a
village near the last of these places I had the curiosity to go and
see their way of living, which is most brutish and unsufferable.
They had, I suppose, a great sacrifice that day; for there stood
out, upon an old stump of a tree, a diabolical kind of idol made of
wood; it was dressed up, too, in the most filthy manner; its upper
garment was of sheepskins, with the wool outward; a great Tartar
bonnet on the head, with two horns growing through it; it was about
eight feet high, yet had no feet or legs, nor any other proportion
of parts.
This scarecrow was set up at the outer side of the village; and
when I came near to it there were sixteen or seventeen creatures
all lying flat upon the ground round this hideous block of wood; I
saw no motion among them, any more than if they had been all logs,
like the idol, and at first I really thought they had been so; but,
when I came a little nearer, they started up upon their feet, and
raised a howl, as if it had been so many deep-mouthed hounds, and
walked away, as if they were d
ispleased at our disturbing them. A
little way off from the idol, and at the door of a hut, made of
sheep and cow skins dried, stood three men with long knives in
their hands; and in the middle of the tent appeared three sheep
killed, and one young bullock. These, it seems, were sacrifices to
that senseless log of an idol; the three men were priests belonging
to it, and the seventeen prostrated wretches were the people who
brought the offering, and were offering their prayers to that
stock.
I confess I was more moved at their stupidity and brutish worship
of a hobgoblin than ever I was at anything in my life, and,
overcome with rage, I rode up to the hideous idol, and with my
sword made a stroke at the bonnet that was on its head, and cut it
in two; and one of our men that was with me, taking hold of the
sheepskin that covered it, pulled at it, when, behold, a most
hideous outcry ran through the village, and two or three hundred
people came about my ears, so that I was glad to scour for it, for
some had bows and arrows; but I resolved from that moment to visit
them again. Our caravan rested three nights at the town, which was
about four miles off, in order to provide some horses which they
wanted, several of the horses having been lamed and jaded with the
long march over the last desert; so we had some leisure here to put
my design in execution. I communicated it to the Scots merchant,
of whose courage I had sufficient testimony; I told him what I had
seen, and with what indignation I had since thought that human
nature could be so degenerate; I told him if I could get but four
or five men well armed to go with me, I was resolved to go and
destroy that vile, abominable idol, and let them see that it had no
power to help itself, and consequently could not be an object of
worship, or to be prayed to, much less help them that offered
sacrifices to it.
He at first objected to my plan as useless, seeing that, owing to
the gross ignorance of the people, they could not be brought to
profit by the lesson I meant to teach them; and added that, from
his knowledge of the country and its customs, he feared we should
fall into great peril by giving offence to these brutal idol
worshippers. This somewhat stayed my purpose, but I was still
uneasy all that day to put my project in execution; and that
evening, meeting the Scots merchant in our walk about the town, I
again called upon him to aid me in it. When he found me resolute
he said that, on further thoughts, he could not but applaud the
design, and told me I should not go alone, but he would go with me;
but he would go first and bring a stout fellow, one of his
countrymen, to go also with us; "and one," said he, "as famous for
his zeal as you can desire any one to be against such devilish
things as these." So we agreed to go, only we three and my man-
servant, and resolved to put it in execution the following night
about midnight, with all possible secrecy.
We thought it better to delay it till the next night, because the
caravan being to set forward in the morning, we suppose the
governor could not pretend to give them any satisfaction upon us
when we were out of his power. The Scots merchant, as steady in
his resolution for the enterprise as bold in executing, brought me
a Tartar's robe or gown of sheepskins, and a bonnet, with a bow and
arrows, and had provided the same for himself and his countryman,
that the people, if they saw us, should not determine who we were.
All the first night we spent in mixing up some combustible matter,
with aqua vitae, gunpowder, and such other materials as we could
get; and having a good quantity of tar in a little pot, about an
hour after night we set out upon our expedition.
We came to the place about eleven o'clock at night, and found that
the people had not the least suspicion of danger attending their
idol. The night was cloudy: yet the moon gave us light enough to
see that the idol stood just in the same posture and place that it