The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

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