I agreed with him in that part readily, and was for going about it presently: "No, no; hold, Sir," said he; "though I would have her baptized by all means, yet I must observe, that Will Atkins, her husband, has indeed brought her, in a wonderful manner, to be willing to embrace a religious life; and has given her just ideas of the being of a God, of his power, justice, and mercy; yet I desire to know of him, if he has said any thing to her of Jesus Christ, and of the salvation of sinners; of the nature of faith in him, and the redemption by him; of the Holy Spirit, the Resurrection, the last judgment, and a future state."

I called Will Atkins again, and asked him; but the poor fellow fell immediately into tears, and told us he had said something to her of all those things, but that he was himself so wicked a creature, and his own conscience so reproached him with his horrid, ungodly life, that he trembled at the apprehensions, that her knowledge of him should lessen the attention she should give to those things, and make her rather contemn religion than receive it: but he was assured, he said, that her mind was so disposed to receive due impressions of all those things, that, if I would but discourse with her, she would make it appear to my satisfaction that my labour would not be lost upon her.

Accordingly I called her in, and placing myself as interpreter between my religious priest and the woman, I entreated him to begin with her. But sure such a sermon was never preached by a popish priest in these latter ages of the world: and, as I told him, I thought he had all the zeal, all the knowledge, all the sincerity of a Christian, without the errors of a Roman Catholic; and that I took him to be such a clergyman as the Roman bishops were before the church of Rome assumed spiritual sovereignty over the consciences of men.

In a word, he brought the poor woman to embrace the knowledge of Christ, and of redemption by him, not with wonder and astonishment only, as she did the first notions of a God, but with joy and faith, with an affection, and a surprising degree of understanding, scarce to be imagined, much less to be expressed; and at her own request she was baptized.

When he was preparing to baptize her, I entreated him that he would perform that office with some caution, that the man might not perceive he was of the Roman church, if possible; because of other ill consequences which might attend a difference among us in that very religion which we were instructing the other in. He told me, that as he had no consecrated chapel, nor proper things for the office, I should see he would do it in a manner that I should not know by it that he was a Roman Catholic himself it I had not known it before, and so he did; for saying only some words over to himself in Latin, which I could not understand, he poured a whole dishfull of water upon the woman's head, pronouncing in French very loud Mary (which was the name her husband desired me to give her, for I was her godfather,) I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; so that none could know any thing by it what religion he was of: he gave the benediction afterwards in Latin; but either Will Atkins did not know but it was in French, or else did not take notice of it at that time.

As soon as this was over, he married them; and after the marriage was over, he turned himself to Will Atkins, and in a very affectionate manner exhorted him not only to persevere in that good disposition he was in, but to support the convictions that were upon him by a resolution to reform his life; told him it was in vain to say he repented if he did not forsake his crimes; represented to him, how God had honoured him with being the instrument of bringing his wife to the knowledge of the Christian religion; and that he should be careful he did not dishonour the grace of God; and that if he did, he would see the heathen a better Christian than himself; the savage converted, and the instrument cast away!

He said a great many good things to them both, and then recommended them, in a few words, to God's goodness; gave them the benediction again, I repeating every thing to them in English: and thus ended the ceremony. I think it was the most pleasant, agreeable day to me that ever I passed in my whole life.

But my clergyman had not done yet; his thoughts hung continually upon the conversion of the thirty-seven savages, and fain he would have staid upon the island to have undertaken it; but I convinced him, first, that his undertaking was impracticable in itself; and secondly, that, perhaps, I could put it into a way of being done, in his absence, to his satisfaction; of which by and by.

Having thus brought the affair of the island to a narrow compass, I was preparing to go on board the ship when the young man, whom I had taken out of the famished ship's company, came to me, and told me, he understood I had a clergyman with me, and that I had caused the Englishmen to be married to the savages whom they called wives; that he had a match too, which he desired might be finished before I went, between two Christians, which he hoped would not be disagreeable to me.

I knew this must be the young woman who was his mother's servant, for there was no other Christian woman on the island. So I began to persuade him not to do any thing of that kind rashly, or because he found himself in this solitary circumstance. I represented that he had some considerable substance in the world, and good friends, as I understood by himself, and by his maid also; that the maid was not only poor, and a servant, but was unequal to him, she being twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and he not above seventeen or eighteen; that he might very probably, with my assistance, make a remove from this wilderness, and come into his own country again, and that then it would be a thousand to one but he would repent his choice, and the dislike of that circumstance might be disadvantageous to both. I was going to say more, but he interrupted me, smiling; and told me, with a great deal of modesty, that I mistook in my guesses; that he had nothing of that kind in his thoughts, his present circumstances being melancholy and disconsolate enough; and he was very glad to hear that I had some thoughts of putting them in a way to see their own country again; and that nothing should have set him upon staying there, but that the voyage I was going was so exceeding long and hazardous, and would carry him quite out of the reach of all his friends; that he had nothing to desire of me, but that I would settle him in some little property of the island where he was; give him a servant or two, and some few necessaries, and he would settle himself here like a planter, waiting the good time when, if ever I returned to England, I would redeem him, and hoped I would not be unmindful of him when I came to England; that he would give me some letters to his friends in London, to let them know how good I had been to him, and what part of the world, and what circumstances I had left him in; and he promised me, that whenever I redeemed him, the plantation, and all the improvements he had made upon it, let the value be what it would, should be wholly mine.

His discourse was very prettily delivered, considering his youth, and was the more agreeable to me, because he told me positively the match was not for himself. I gave him all possible assurances, that, if I lived to come safe to England, I would deliver his letters, and do his business effectually, and that he might depend I would never forget the circumstances I left him in. But still I was impatient to know who was the person to be married; upon which he told me it was my Jack of all Trades and his maid Susan.

I was most agreeably surprised when he named the match; for indeed I had thought it very suitable. The character of that man I have given already; and as for the maid, she was a very honest, modest, sober, and religious young woman; had a very good share of sense; was agreeable enough in her person; spoke very handsomely, and to the purpose; always with decency and good manners, and not backward to speak when any thing required it, or impertinently forward to speak when it was not her business; very handy and housewifely in any thing that was before her; an excellent manager, and fit indeed to have been governess to the whole island; she knew very well how to behave herself to all kind of folks she had about her, and to better if she had found any there.

The match being proposed in this manner, we married them the same day: and as I was father at the altar, as I may say, and gave her away, so I gave her a portion, for I appointed her and her husband a handsome large space of ground for their plantation; and indeed this match, and the proposal the young gentleman made to me, to give him a small property in the island, put me upon parcelling it out among them, that they might not quarrel afterwards about their situation.

This sharing out the land to them I left to Will Atkins, who indeed was now grown a most sober, grave, managing fellow, perfectly reformed, exceeding pious and religious, and as far as I may be allowed to speak positively in such a case, I verily believe was a true sincere penitent.

He divided things so justly, and so much to every one's satisfaction, that they only desired one general writing under my hand for the whole, which I caused to be drawn up, and signed and sealed to them, setting out the bounds and situation of every man's plantation, and testifying that I gave them thereby, severally, a right to the whole possession and inheritance of the respective plantations or farms, with their improvements, to them and their heirs; reserving all the rest of the island as my own property, and a certain rent for every particular plantation after eleven years, if I or any one from me, or in my name, came to demand it, producing an attested copy of the same writing.

As to the government and laws among them, I told them, I was not capable of giving them better rules than they were able to give themselves; only made them promise me to live in love and good neighbourhood with one another: and so I prepared to leave them.

One thing I must not omit, and that is, that being now settled in a kind of commonwealth among themselves, and having much business in hand, it was but odd to have seven-and-thirty Indians live in a nook of the island, independent, and indeed unemployed; for excepting the providing themselves food, which they had difficulty enough in doing sometimes, they had no manner of business or property to manage: I proposed therefore to the governor Spaniard, that he should go to them with Friday's father, and propose to them to remove, and either plant for themselves, or take them into their several families as servants, to be maintained for their labour, but without being absolute slaves, for I would not admit them to make them slaves by force by any means, because they had their liberty given by capitulation, and as it were articles of surrender, which they ought not to break.

They most willingly embraced the proposal, and came all very cheerfully along with him; so we allotted them land and plantations, which three or four accepted of, but all the rest chose to be employed as servants in the several families we had settled; and thus my colony was in a manner settled as follows: The Spaniards possessed my original habitation, which was the capital city, and extended their plantation all along the side of the brook which made the creek that I have so often described, as far as my bower; and as they increased their culture, it went always eastward. The English lived in the north-east part, where Will Atkins and his comrades began, and came on southward and south-west, towards the back part of the Spaniards; and every plantation had a great addition of land to take in, if they found occasion, so that they need not jostle one another for want of room.

All the west end of the island was left uninhabited, that, if any of the savages should come on shore there, only for their usual customary barbarities, they might come and go; if they disturbed nobody, nobody would disturb them; and no doubt but they were often ashore, and went away again, for I never heard that the planters were ever attacked and disturbed any more.

It now came into my thoughts that I had hinted to my friend the clergyman that the work of converting the savages might perhaps be set on foot in his absence to his satisfaction; and I told him, that now I thought it was put in a fair way, for the savages being thus divided among the Christians, if they would but every one of them do their part with those which came under their hands, I hoped it might have a very good effect.

He agreed presently in that; "if," said he, "they will do their part; but how," says he, "shall we obtain that of them?" I told him we would call them all together, and leave it in charge with them, or go to them one by one, which he thought best; so we divided it—he to speak to the Spaniards, who were all Papists, and I to the English, who were all Protestants; and we recommended it earnestly to them, and made them promise that they would never make any distinction of Papist or Protestant in their exhorting the savages to turn Christians, but teach them the general knowledge of the true God, and of their Saviour Jesus Christ; and they likewise promised us that they would never have any differences or disputes one with another about religion.

When I came to Will Atkins's house, (I may call it so, for such a house, or such a piece of basket-work, I believe was not standing in the world again!) I say, when I came thither I found the young woman I have mentioned above, and William Atkins's wife, were become intimates; and this prudent and religious young woman had perfected the work Will Atkins had begun; and though it was not above four days after what I have related, yet the new-baptized savage woman was made such a Christian as I have seldom heard of any like her, in all my observation or conversation in the world.

It came next into my mind in the morning, before I went to them, that among all the needful things I had to leave with them, I had not left a Bible; in which I shewed myself less considering for them than my good friend the widow was for me, when she sent me the cargo of 100l. from Lisbon, where she packed up three Bibles and a Prayer-book. However, the good woman's charity had a greater extent than ever she imagined, for they were reserved for the comfort and instruction of those that made much better use of them than I had done.

I took one of the Bibles in my pocket; and when I came to William Atkins's tent, or house, I found the young woman and Atkins's baptized wife had been discoursing of religion together (for William Atkins told it me with a great deal of joy.) I asked if they were together now? And he said yes; so I went into the house, and he with me, and we found them together, very earnest in discourse: "O Sir," says William Atkins, "when God has sinners to reconcile to himself, and aliens to bring home, he never wants a messenger: my wife has got a new instructor—I knew I was unworthy, as I was incapable of that work—that young woman has been sent hither from Heaven—she is enough to convert a whole island of savages." The young woman blushed, and rose up to go away, but I desired her to sit still; I told her she had a good work upon her hands, and I hoped God would bless her in it.

We talked a little, and I did not perceive they had any book among them, though I did not ask, but I put my hand in my pocket, and pulled out my Bible. "Here," said I to Atkins, "I have brought you an assistant, that perhaps you had not before." The man was so confounded, that he was not able to speak for some time; but recovering himself, he takes it with both hands, and turning to his wife, "Here, my dear," says he, "did not I tell you our God, though he lives above, could hear what we said? Here is the book I prayed for when you and I kneeled down under the bush; now God has heard us, and sent it." When he had said thus, the man fell in such transports of a passionate joy, that between the joy of having it, and giving God thanks for it, the tears ran down his face like a child that was crying.

The woman was surprised, and was like to have run into a mistake that none of us were aware of; for she firmly believed God had sent the book upon her husband's petition: it is true that providentially it was so, and might be taken so in a consequent sense; but I believed it would have been no difficult matter at that time to have persuaded the poor woman to have believed that an express messenger came from Heaven on purpose to bring that individual book; but it was too serious a matter to suffer any delusion to take place: so I turned to the young woman, and told her we did not desire to impose upon the convert in her first and more ignorant understanding of things, and begged her to explain to her that God may be very properly said to answer our petitions, when in the course of his providence such things are in a particular manner brought to pass as we petitioned for; but we do not expect returns from Heaven in a miraculous and particular manner; and that it is our mercy it is not so.

This the young woman did afterwards effectually; so that there was, I assure you, no priestcraft used here; and I should have thought it one of the most unjustifiable frauds in the world to have had it so: but the surprise of joy upon Will Atkins is really not to be expressed; and there we may be sure was no delusion. Sure no man was ever more thankful in the world for any thing of its kind than he was for this Bible; and I believe never any man was glad of a Bible from a better principle; and though he had been a most profligate creature, desperate, headstrong, outrageous, furious, and wicked to a great degree, yet this man is a standing rule to us all for the well instructing children, viz. that parents should never give over to teach and instruct, or ever despair of the success of their endeavours, let the children be ever so obstinate, refractory, or to appearance insensible of instruction; for if ever God in his providence touches the consciences of such, the force of their education returns upon them, and the early instruction of parents is not lost, though it may have been many years laid asleep, but some time or other they may find the benefit of it.

Thus it was with this poor man. However ignorant he was, or divested of religion and Christian knowledge, he found he had some to do with now more ignorant than himself; and that the least part of the instruction of his good father that could now come to his mind was of use to him.

Among the rest it occurred to him, he said, how his father used to insist much upon the inexpressible value of the Bible, the privilege and blessing of it to nations, families, and persons; but he never entertained the least notion of the worth of it till now, when being to talk to heathens, savages, and barbarians, he wanted the help of the written oracle for his assistance.

The young woman was very glad of it also for the present occasion, though she had one, and so had the youth, on board our ship among the goods which were not yet brought on shore. And now, having said so many things of this young woman, I cannot omit telling one story more of her and myself, which has something in it very informing and remarkable.

I have related to what extremity the poor young woman was reduced; how her mistress was starved to death, and did die on board that unhappy ship we met at sea; and how the whole ship's company being reduced to the last extremity, the gentlewoman and her son, and this maid, were first hardly used as to provisions, and at last totally neglected and starved; that is to say, brought to the last extremity of hunger.

One day being discoursing with her upon the extremities they suffered, I asked her if she could describe by what she felt what it was to starve, and how it appeared? She told me she believed she could, and she told her tale very distinctly thus:

"First, Sir," said she, "we had for some days fared exceeding hard, and suffered very great hunger, but now at last we were wholly without food of any kind except sugar, and a little wine, and a little water. The first day after I had received no food at all, I found myself, towards evening, first empty and sickish at my stomach, and nearer night mightily inclined to yawning, and sleepy; I lay down on a couch in the great cabin to sleep, and slept about three hours, and awaked a little refreshed, having taken a glass of wine when I lay down. After being about three hours awake, it being about five o'clock in the morning, I found myself empty, and my stomach sickish again, and lay down again, but could not sleep at all, being very faint and ill; and thus I continued all the second day with a strange variety—first hungry, then sick again, with retchings to vomit. The second night, being obliged to go to bed again without any food more than a draught of fair water, and being asleep, I dreamed I was at Barbadoes, and that the market was mightily stocked with provisions, that I bought some for my mistress, and went and dined very heartily.

"I thought my stomach was full after this, as it would have been after or at a good dinner; but when I waked, I was exceedingly sunk in my spirits to find myself in the extremity of famine; the last glass of wine we had I drank, and put sugar into it, because of its having some spirit to supply nourishment; but there being no substance in the stomach for the digesting office to work upon, I found the only effect of the wine was to raise disagreeable fumes from the stomach into the head; and I lay, as they told me, stupid and senseless as one drunk for some time.

"The third day in the morning, after a night of strange and confused inconsistent dreams, and rather dozing than sleeping, I awaked ravenous and furious with hunger; and I question, had not my understanding returned and conquered it, I say, I question whether, if I had been a mother, and had had a little child with me, its life would have been safe or no.

"This lasted about three hours, during which time I was twice raging mad as any creature in Bedlam, as my young master told me, and as he can now inform you.

"In one of these fits of lunacy or distraction, whether by the motion of the ship or some slip of my foot I know not, I fell down, and struck my face against the corner of a pallet-bed, in which my mistress lay, and with the blow the blood gushed out of my nose, and the cabin-boy bringing me a little basin, I sat down and bled into it a great deal, and as the blood ran from me I came to myself, and the violence of the flame or the fever I was in abated, and so did the ravenous part of the hunger.

"Then I grew sick, and retched to vomit, but could not, for I had nothing in my stomach to bring up. After I had bled some time I swooned, and they all believed I was dead; but I came to myself soon after, and then had a most dreadful pain in my stomach, not to be described, not like the colic, but a gnawing eager pain for food, and towards night it went off with a kind of earnest wishing or longing for food, something like, as I suppose, the longing of a woman with child. I took another draught of water with sugar in it, but my stomach loathed the sugar, and brought it all up again; then I took a draught of water without sugar, and that stayed with me, and I laid me down upon the bed, praying most heartily that it would please God to take me away; and composing my mind in hopes of it, I slumbered awhile; and then waking, thought myself dying, being light with vapours from an empty stomach: I recommended my soul to God, and earnestly wished that somebody would throw me into the sea.

"All this while my mistress lay by me just, as I thought, expiring, but bore it with much more patience than I, and gave the last bit of bread she had to her child, my young master, who would not have taken it, but she obliged him to eat it, and I believe it saved his life.

"Towards the morning I slept again, and first when I awaked I fell into a violent passion of crying, and after that had a second fit of violent hunger, so that I got up ravenous, and in a most dreadful condition. Had my mistress been dead, so much as I loved her, I am certain I should have eaten a piece of her flesh with as much relish and as unconcerned as ever I did the flesh of any creature appointed for food; and once or twice I was going to bite my own arm. At last I saw the basin in which was the blood had bled at my nose the day before; I ran to it, and swallowed it with such haste, and such a greedy appetite, as if I had wondered nobody had taken it before, and afraid it should be taken from me now.

"Though after it was down the thoughts of it filled me with horror, yet it checked the fit of hunger, and I drank a draught of fair water, and was composed and refreshed for some hours, after it. This was the fourth day; and thus I held it till towards night, when, within the compass of three hours, I had all these several circumstances over again, one after another, viz. sick, sleepy, eagerly hungry, pain in the stomach, then ravenous again, then sick again, then lunatic, then crying, then ravenous again, and so every quarter of an hour; and my strength wasted exceedingly. At night I laid me down, having no comfort but in the hope that I should die before morning.

"All this night I had no sleep, but the hunger was now turned into a disease, and I had a terrible colic and griping, wind instead of food having found its way into my bowels; and in this condition I lay till morning, when I was surprised a little with the cries and lamentations of my young master, who called out to me that his mother was dead. I lifted myself up a little, for I had not strength to rise, but found she was not dead, though she was able to give very little signs of life.

"I had then such convulsions in my stomach for want of some sustenance, that I cannot describe them, with such frequent throes and pangs of appetite that nothing but the tortures of death can imitate; and this condition I was in when I heard the seamen above cry out 'A sail! a sail!' and halloo and jump about as if they were distracted.

"I was not able to get off from the bed, and my mistress much less; and my master was so sick that I thought he had been expiring; so we could not open the cabin-door, or get any account what it was that occasioned such a combustion; nor had we any conversation with the ship's company for two days, they having told us they had not a mouthful of any thing to eat in the ship; and they told us afterwards they thought we had been dead.

"It was this dreadful condition we were in when you were sent to save our lives; and how you found us, Sir, you know as well as I, and better too."

This was her own relation, and is such a distinct account of starving to death as I confess I never met with, and was exceeding entertaining to me: I am the rather apt to believe it to be a true account, because the youth gave me an account of a good part of it; though I must own not so distinct and so feelingly as his maid, and the rather because it seems his mother fed him at the price of her own life: but the poor maid, though her constitution being stronger than that of her mistress, who was in years, and a weakly woman too, she might struggle harder with it; I say, the poor maid might be supposed to feel the extremity something sooner than her mistress, who might be allowed to keep the last bits something longer than she parted with any to relieve the maid. No question, as the case is here related, if our ship, or some other, had not so providentially met them, a few days more would have ended all their lives, unless they had prevented it by eating one another; and even that, as their case stood, would have served them but a little while, they being five hundred leagues from any land, or any possibility of relief, other than in the miraculous manner it happened.—But this is by the way; I return to my disposition of things among the people.

And first, it is to be observed here, that for many reasons I did not think fit to let them know any thing of the sloop I had framed, and which I thought of setting up among them; for I found, at least at my first coming, such seeds of division among them, that I saw it plainly, had I set up the sloop, and left it among them, they would, upon very light disgust, have separated, and gone away from one another; or perhaps have turned pirates, and so made the island a den of thieves, instead of a plantation of sober and religious people, as I intended it to be; nor did I leave the two pieces of brass cannon that I had on board, or the two quarter-deck guns, that my nephew took extraordinary, for the same reason: I thought they had enough to qualify them for a defensive war, against any that should invade them; but I was not to set them up for an offensive war, or to encourage them to go abroad to attack others, which, in the end, would only bring ruin and destruction upon themselves and all their undertakings: I reserved the sloop, therefore, and the guns, for their service another way, as I shall observe in its place.

I have now done with the island: I left them all in good circumstances, and in a flourishing condition, and went on board my ship again the fifth day of May, having been five and twenty days among them; and, as they were all resolved to stay upon the island till I came to remove them, I promised to send some further relief from the Brasils, if I could possibly find an opportunity; and particularly I promised to send them some cattle; such as sheep, hogs, and cows; for as to the two cows and calves which I brought from England, we had been obliged, by the length of our voyage, to kill them at sea, for want of hay to feed them.

The next day, giving them a salute of five guns at parting, we set sail, and arrived at the bay of All Saints, in the Brasils, in about twenty-two days; meeting nothing remarkable in our passage but this, that about three days after we sailed, being becalmed, and the current setting strong to the N.N.E. running, as it were, into a bay or gulf on the land side, we were driven something out of our course; and once or twice our men cried Land, to the westward; but whether it was the continent, or islands, we could not tell by any means.

But the third day, towards evening, the sea smooth and the weather calm, we saw the sea, as it were, covered towards the land, with something very black, not being able to discover what it was; but, after some time, our chief mate going up the main shrouds a little way, and looking at them with a perspective, cried out, it was an army. I could not imagine what he meant by an army, and spoke a little hastily, calling the fellow a fool, or some such word: "Nay, Sir," says he, "don't be angry, for it is an army, and a fleet too; for I believe there are a thousand canoes, and you may see them paddle along, and they are coming towards us too apace, and full of men."

I was a little surprised then, indeed, and so was my nephew the captain; for he had heard such terrible stories of them in the island, and having never been in those seas before, that he could not tell what to think of it, but said two or three times, we should all be devoured. I must confess, considering we were becalmed, and the current set strong towards, the shore, I liked it the worse; however, I bade him not be afraid, but bring the ship to an anchor, as soon as we came so near as to know that we must engage them.

The weather continued calm, and they came on apace towards us; so I gave orders to come to an anchor, and furl all our sails. As for the savages, I told them they had nothing to fear from them but fire; and therefore they should get their boats out, and fasten them, one close by the head, and the other by the stern, and man them both well, and wait the issue in that posture: this I did, that the men in the boats might be ready, with sheet and buckets, to put out any fire these savages might endeavour to fix upon the outside of the ship.

In this posture we lay by for them, and in a little while they came up with us; but never was such a horrid sight seen by Christians; my mate was much mistaken in his calculation of their number, I mean of a thousand canoes; the most we could make of them when they came up, being about 126; and a great many of them too; for some of them had sixteen or seventeen men in them, some more, and the least six or seven.

When they came nearer to us, they seemed to be struck with wonder and astonishment, as at a sight which they had, doubtless, never seen before; nor could they, at first, as we afterwards understood, know what to make of us. They came boldly up however, very near to us, and seemed to go about to row round us; but we called to our men in the boats not to let them come too near them. This very order brought us to an engagement with them, without our designing it; for five or six of the large canoes came so near our long-boat, that our men beckoned with their hands to keep them back, which they understood very well, and went back: but at their retreat about fifty arrows came on board us from those boats, and one of our men in the long-boat was very much wounded. However, I called to them not to fire by any means; but we handed down some deal boards into the boat, and the carpenter presently set up a kind of fence, like waste boards, to cover them from the arrows of the savages, if they should shoot again.

About half-an-hour afterwards they all came up in a body astern of us, and so near that we could easily discern what they were, though we could not tell their design; and I easily found they were some of my old friends, the same sort of savages that I had been used to engage with. In a short time more they rowed a little farther out to sea, till they came directly broadside with us, and then rowed down straight upon us, till they came so near that they could hear us speak; upon this, I ordered all my men to keep close, lest they should shoot any more arrows, and made all our guns ready; but being so near as to be within hearing, I made Friday go out upon the deck, and call out aloud to them in his language, to know what they meant. Whether they understood him or not, that I knew not; but as soon as he had called to them, six of them, who were in the foremost or nearest boat to us, turned their canoes from us, and stooping down, showed us their naked backs; whether this was a defiance or challenge we knew not, or whether it was done in mere contempt, or as a signal to the rest; but immediately Friday cried out they were going to shoot, and, unhappily for him, poor fellow, they let fly about three hundred of their arrows, and to my inexpressible grief, killed poor Friday, no other man being in their sight. The poor fellow was shot with no less than three arrows, and about three more fell very near him; such unlucky marksmen they were!

I was so annoyed at the loss of my old trusty servant and companion, that I immediately ordered five guns to be loaded with small shot, and four with great, and gave them such a broadside as they had never heard in their lives before. They were not above half a cable's length off when we fired; and our gunners took their aim so well, that three or four of their canoes were overset, as we had reason to believe, by one shot only. The ill manners of turning up their bare backs to us gave us no great offence; neither did I know for certain whether that which would pass for the greatest contempt among us might be understood so by them or not; therefore, in return, I had only resolved to have fired four or five guns at them with powder only, which I knew would frighten them sufficiently: but when they shot at us directly with all the fury they were capable of, and especially as they had killed my poor Friday, whom I so entirely loved and valued, and who, indeed, so well deserved it, I thought myself not only justifiable before God and man, but would have been very glad if I could have overset every canoe there, and drowned every one of them.

I can neither tell how many we killed nor how many we wounded at this broadside, but sure such a fright and hurry never were seen among such a multitude; there were thirteen or fourteen of their canoes split and overset in all, and the men all set a-swimming: the rest, frightened out of their wits, scoured away as fast as they could, taking but little care to save those whose boats were split or spoiled with our shot; so I suppose that many of them were lost; and our men took up one poor fellow swimming for his life; above an hour after they were all gone.

Our small shot from our cannon must needs kill and wound a great many; but, in short, we never knew any thing how it went with them; for they fled so fast that, in three hours, or thereabouts, we could not see above three or four straggling canoes; nor did we ever see the rest any more; for a breeze of wind springing up the same evening, we weighed and set sail for the Brasils.

We had a prisoner indeed, but the creature was so sullen, that he would neither eat nor speak; and we all fancied he would starve himself to death; but I took a way to cure him; for I made them take him, and turn him into the long-boat, and make him believe they would toss him into the sea again, and so leave him where they found him, if he would not speak: nor would that do, but they really did throw him into the sea, and came away from him; and then he followed them, for he swam like a cork, and called to them in his tongue, though they knew not one word of what he said. However, at last, they took him in again, and then he began to be more tractable; nor did I ever design they should drown him.

We were now under sail again; but I was the most disconsolate creature alive, for want of my man Friday, and would have been very glad to have gone back to the island, to have taken one of the rest from thence for my occasion, but it could not be; so we went on. We had one prisoner, as I have said; and it was a long while before we could make him understand any thing; but in time, our men taught him some English, and he began to be a little tractable: afterwards we inquired what country he came from, but could make nothing of what he said; for his speech was so odd, all gutturals, and spoken in the throat, in such a hollow and odd manner, that we could never form a word from him; and we were all of opinion that they might speak that language as well if they were gagged, as otherwise; nor could we perceive that they had any occasion either for teeth, tongue, lips, or palate; but formed their words just as a hunting-horn forms a tune, with an open throat: he told us, however, some time after, when we had taught him to speak a little English, that they were going, with their kings, to fight a great battle. When he said kings, we asked him, how many kings? He said, there were five nation (we could not make him understand the plural s,) and that they all joined to go against two nation. We asked him, What made them come up to us? He said, "To makee te great wonder look."—Where it is to be observed, that all those natives, as also those of Africa, when they learn English, they always add two e's at the end of the words where we use one, and place the accent upon the last of them; as makee, takee, and the like; and we could not break them of it; nay, I could hardly make Friday leave it off, though at last he did.

And now I name the poor fellow once more, I must take my last leave of him; poor honest Friday! We buried him with all decency and solemnity possible, by putting him into a coffin, and throwing him into the sea; and I caused them to fire eleven guns for him: and so ended the life of the most grateful, faithful, honest, and most affectionate servant that ever man had.

We now went away with a fair wind for Brasil, and, in about twelve days time, we made land in the latitude of five degrees south of the line, being the north-easternmost land of all that part of America. We kept on S. by E. in sight of the shore four days, when we made the Cape St. Augustine, and in three days came to an anchor off the bay of All Saints, the old place of my deliverance, from whence came both my good and evil fate.

Never did a ship come to this part that had less business than I had; and yet it was with great difficulty that we were admitted to hold the least correspondence on shore. Not my partner himself, who was alive, and made a great figure among them, not my two merchant trustees, nor the fame of my wonderful preservation in the island, could obtain me that favour; but my partner remembering that I had given five hundred moidores to the prior of the monastery of the Augustines, and three hundred and seventy-two to the poor, went to the monastery, and obliged the prior that then was, to go to the governor, and beg leave for me presently, with the captain, and one more, besides eight seamen, to come on shore, and no more; and this upon condition absolutely capitulated for, that we should not offer to land any goods out of the ship, or to carry any person away without licence.

They were so strict with us, as to landing any goods, that it was with extreme difficulty that I got on shore three bales of English goods, such as fine broad-cloths, stuffs, and some linen, which I had brought for a present to my partner.

He was a very generous, broad-hearted man, though (like me) he came from little at first; and though he knew not that I had the least design of giving him any thing, he sent me on board a present of fresh provisions, wine, and sweetmeats, worth above thirty moidores, including some tobacco, and three or four fine medals in gold. But I was even with him in my present, which, as I have said, consisted of fine broad-cloth, English stuffs, lace, and fine Hollands. Also, I delivered him about the value of 100l. sterling, in the same goods, for other uses: and I obliged him to set up the sloop which I had brought with me from England, as I have said, for the use of my colony, in order to send the refreshments I intended to my plantation.

Accordingly he got hands, and finished the sloop in a very few days, for she was already framed; and I gave the master of her such instruction as he could not miss the place; nor did he miss it, as I had an account from my partner afterwards. I got him soon loaded with the small cargo I had sent them; and one of our seamen, that had been on shore with me there, offered to go with the sloop, and settle there, upon my letter to the governor Spaniard, to allot him a sufficient quantity of land for a plantation; and giving him some clothes, and tools for his planting work, which he said he understood, having been an old planter in Maryland, and a buccaneer into the bargain.

I encouraged the fellow by granting all he desired; and, as an addition, I gave him the savage which we had taken prisoner of war, to be his slave, and ordered the governor Spaniard to give him his share of everything he wanted, with the rest.

When we came to fit this man out, my old partner told me, there was a certain very honest fellow, a Brasil planter of his acquaintance, who had fallen into he displeasure of the church: "I know not what the matter is with him," says he, "but, on my conscience, I think he is a heretic in his heart; and he has been obliged to conceal himself for fear of the Inquisition;" that he would be very glad of such an opportunity to make his escape, with his wife and two daughters; and if I would let them go to the island, and allot them a plantation, he would give them a small stock to begin with; for the officers of the Inquisition had seized all his effects and estate, and he had nothing left but a little household stuff, and two slaves; "And," adds he, "though I hate his principles, yet I would not have him fall into their hands, for he will assuredly be burnt alive if he does."

I granted this presently, and joined my Englishman with them; and we concealed the man, and his wife and daughters, on board our ship, till the sloop put out to go to sea; and then (having put all their goods on board the sloop some time before) we put them on board the sloop, after she was got out of the bay.

Our seaman was mightily pleased with this new partner; and their stock, indeed, was much alike, rich in tools, and in preparations, for a farm; but nothing to begin with, but as above. However, they carried over with them (which was worth all the rest) some materials for planting sugar-canes, with some plants of canes; which he (I mean the Portugal man) understood very well.

Among the rest of the supplies sent my tenants in the island, I sent them, by this sloop, three milch-cows and five calves, about twenty-two hogs, among them, three sows big with pig, two mares, and a stone-horse.

For my Spaniards, according to my promise, I engaged three Portugal women to go; and recommended it to them to marry them, and use them kindly. I could have procured more women, but I remembered that the poor persecuted man had two daughters, and there were but five of the Spaniards that wanted; the rest had wives of their own, though in another country.

All this cargo arrived safe, and, as you may easily suppose, very welcome to my old inhabitants, who were now (with this addition) between sixty and seventy people, besides little children; of which there were a great many: I found letters at London from them all, by way of Lisbon, when I came back to England, being sent back to the Brasils by this sloop; of which I shall take some notice in its place.

I have now done with my island, and all manner of discourse about it; and whoever reads the rest of my memorandums, would do well to turn his thoughts entirely from it, and expect to read only of the follies of an old man, not warned by his own harms, much less by those of other men, to beware of the like; not cooled by almost forty years misery and disappointments; not satisfied with prosperity beyond expectation; not made cautious by affliction and distress beyond irritation.

I had no more business to go to the East Indies, than a man at full liberty, and having committed no crime, has to go to the turnkey at Newgate, and desire him to lock him up among the prisoners there, and starve him. Had I taken a small vessel from England, and gone directly to the island; had I loaded her, as I did the other vessel, with all the necessaries for the plantation, and for my people; took a patent from the government here, to have secured my property, in subjection only to that of England, which, to be sure, I might have obtained; had I carried over cannon and ammunition, servants, and people to plant, and, taking possession of the place, fortified and strengthened it in the name of England, and increased it with people, as I might easily have done; had I then settled myself there, and sent the ship back, loaded with good rice, as I might also have done in six months time, and ordered my friends to have fitted her out again for our supply; had I done this, and staid there myself, I had, at least, acted like a man of common sense; but I was possessed with a wandering spirit, scorned all advantages, pleased myself with being the patron of these people I had placed there, and doing for them in a kind of haughty majestic way, like an old patriarchal monarch; providing for them, as if I had been father of the whole family, as well as of the plantation: but I never so much as pretended to plant in the name of any government or nation, or to acknowledge any prince, or to call my people subjects to any one nation more than another; nay, I never so much as gave the place a name; but left it as I found it, belonging to no man; and the people under no discipline or government but my own; who, though I had an influence over them as father and benefactor, had no authority or power to act or command one way or other, farther than voluntary consent moved them to comply: yet even this, had I staid there, would have done well enough; but as I rambled from them, and came thither no more, the last letters I had from any of them, were by my partner's means, who afterwards sent another sloop to the place; and who sent me word, though I had not the letter till five years after it was written, that they went on but poorly, were malecontent with their long stay there; that Will Atkins was dead; that five of the Spaniards were come away; and that though they had not been much molested by the savages, yet they had had some skirmishes with them; that they begged of him to write to me to think of the promise I had made to fetch them away, that they might see their own country again before they died.

But I was gone a wild-goose chase indeed, and they who will have any more of me, must be content to follow me through a new variety of follies, hardships, and wild adventures; wherein the justice of Providence may be duly observed, and we may see how easily Heaven can gorge us with our own desires, make the strongest of our wishes to be our affliction and punish us most severely with those very things which we think it would be our utmost happiness to be allowed in.

Let no wise man flatter himself with the strength of his own judgment, as if he was able to choose any particular station of life for himself. Man is a short-sighted creature, sees but a very little way before him; and as his passions are none of his best friends, so his particular affections are generally his worst counsellors.

I say this with respect to the impetuous desire I had from a youth to wander into the world, and how evident it now was that this principle was preserved in me for my punishment. How it came on, the manner, the circumstance, and the conclusion of it, it is easy to give you historically, and with its utmost variety of particulars. But the secret ends of Divine Providence, in thus permitting us to be hurried down the stream of our own desires, are only to be understood of those who can listen to the voice of Providence, and draw religious consequences from God's justice and their own mistakes.

Be it had I business or no business, away I went. It is no time now to enlarge any farther upon the reason or absurdity of my own conduct; but to come to the history—I was embarked for the voyage, and the voyage I went.

I shall only add here, that my honest and truly pious clergyman left me here; a ship being ready to go to Lisbon, he asked me leave to go thither; being still as he observed, bound never to finish any voyage he began. How happy had it been for me if I had gone with him!

But it was too late now; all things Heaven appoints are best. Had I gone with him, I had never had so many things to be thankful for, and you had never heard of the Second Part of the Travels and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; so I must leave here the fruitless exclaiming at myself, and go on with my voyage.

From the Brasils we made directly away over the Atlantic sea to the Cape de Bonne Esperance, or, as we call it, the Cape of Good Hope; and had a tolerable good voyage, our course generally south-east; now and then a storm, and some contrary winds. But my disasters at sea were at an end; my future rubs and cross events were to befal me on shore; that it might appear the land was as well prepared to be our scourge as the sea, when Heaven, who directs the circumstances of things, pleases to appoint it to be so.

Our ship was on a trading voyage, and had a supercargo on board, who was to direct all her motions after she arrived at the Cape; only being limited to a certain number of days for stay, by charter-party, at the several ports she was to go to. This was none of my business, neither did I meddle with it at all; my nephew the captain, and the supercargo, adjusting all those things between them as they thought fit.

We made no stay at the Cape longer than was needful to take in fresh water, but made the best of our way for the coast of Coromandel; we were indeed informed that a French man of war of fifty guns and two large merchant-ships were gone for the Indies; and as I knew we were at war with France, I had some apprehensions of them; but they went their own way, and we heard no more of them.

I shall not pester my account, or the reader, with descriptions of places, journals of our voyages, variations of the compass, latitudes, meridian distances, trade-winds, situation of ports, and the like; such as almost all the histories of long navigation are full of, and which make the reading tiresome enough, and are perfectly unprofitable to all that read, except only to those who are to go to those places themselves.

It is enough to name the ports and places which we touched at, and what occurred to us upon our passing from one to another. We touched first at the island of Madagascar, where, though the people are fierce and treacherous, and, in particular, very well armed with lances and bows, which they use with inconceivable dexterity, yet we fared very well with them awhile; they treated us very civilly; and for some trifles which we gave them, such as knives, scissors, &c. they brought us eleven good fat bullocks, middling in size, but very good in flesh, which we took in, partly for fresh provisions for our present spending, and the rest to salt for the ship's use.

We were obliged to stay here for some time after we had furnished ourselves with provisions; and I that was always too curious to look into every nook of the world wherever I came, was for going on shore as often as I could. It was on the east side of the island that we went on shore one evening, and the people, who by the way are very numerous, came thronging about us, and stood gazing at us at a distance; as we had traded freely with them, and had been kindly used, we thought ourselves in no danger; but when we saw the people we cut three boughs out of a tree, and stuck them up at a distance from us, which, it seems, is a mark in the country not only of truce and friendship, but when it is accepted, the other side set up three poles or boughs also, which is a signal that they accept the truce too; but then this is a known condition of the truce, that you are not to pass beyond their three poles towards them, nor they come past your three poles or boughs towards you; so that you are perfectly secure within the three poles, and all the space between your poles and theirs is allowed like a market for free converse, traffic, and commerce. When you go thither you must not carry your weapons with you; and if they come into that space they stick up their javelins and lances all at the first poles, and come on unarmed; but if any violence is offered them, and the truce thereby broken, away they run to the poles and lay hold of their weapons, and then the truce is at an end.

It happened one evening when we went on shore, that a greater number of their people came down than usual, but all was very friendly and civil. They brought with them several kinds of provisions, for which we satisfied them with such toys as we had; their women also brought us milk and roots, and several things very acceptable to us, and all was quiet; and we made us a little tent or hut, of some boughs of trees, and lay on shore all that night.

I know not what was the occasion, but I was not so well satisfied to lie on shore as the rest; and the boat lying at an anchor about a stone's cast from the land, with two men in her to take care of her, I made one of them come on shore, and getting some boughs of trees to cover us also in the boat, I spread the sail on the bottom of the boat, and lay on board, under the cover of the branches of the trees, all night.

About two o'clock in the morning we heard one of our men make a terrible noise on the shore, calling out for God's sake to bring the boat in, and come and help them, for they were all like to be murdered; at the same time I heard the firing of five muskets, which was the number of the guns they had, and that three times over; for, it seems, the natives here were not so easily frighted with guns as the savages were in America, where I had to do with them.

All this while I knew not what was the matter; but rousing immediately from sleep with the noise, I caused the boat to be thrust in, and resolved, with three fusils we had on board, to land and assist our men.

We got the boat soon to the shore; but our men were in too much haste; for being come to the shore, they plunged into the water to get to the boat with all the expedition they could, being pursued by between three and four hundred men. Our men were but nine in all, and only five of them had fusils with them; the rest, indeed, had pistols and swords, but they were of small use to them.

We took up seven of our men, and with difficulty enough too, three of them being very ill wounded; and that which was still worse was, that while we stood in the boat to take our men in, we were in as much danger as they were in on shore; for they poured their arrows in upon us so thick, that we were fain to barricade the side of the boat up with the benches and two or three loose boards, which to our great satisfaction we had by mere accident, or providence rather, in the boat.

And yet had it been daylight, they are, it seems, such exact marksmen, that if they could have seen but the least part of any of us, they would have been sure of us. We had, by the light of the moon, a little sight of them as they stood pelting us from the shore with darts and arrows, and having got ready our fire-arms, we gave them a volley, and we could hear by the cries of some of them, that we had wounded several; however, they stood thus in battle array on the shore till break of day, which we suppose was that they might see the better to take their aim at us.

In this condition we lay, and could not tell how to weigh our anchor, or set up our sail, because we must needs stand up in the boat, and they were as sure to hit us as we were to hit a bird in a tree with small shot. We made signals of distress to the ship, which though she rode a league off, yet my nephew, the captain, hearing our firing, and by glasses perceiving the posture we lay in, and that we fired towards the shore, pretty well understood us; and weighing anchor with all speed, he stood as near the shore as he durst with the ship, and then sent another boat with ten hands in her to assist us; but we called to them not to come too near, telling them what condition we were in; however, they stood in nearer to us; and one of the men taking the end of a tow-line in his hand, and keeping our boat between him and the enemy, so that they could not perfectly see him, swam on board us, and made the line fast to the boat, upon which we slipt our little cable, and leaving our anchor behind, they towed us out of the reach of the arrows, we all the while lying close behind the barricade we had made.

As soon as we were got from between the ship and the shore, that she could lay her side to the shore, we ran along just by them, and we poured in a broadside among them, loaded with pieces of iron and lead, small bullets, and such stuff, besides the great shot, which made a terrible havoc among them.

When we were got on board and out of danger, we had time to examine into the occasion of this fray; and indeed our supercargo, who had been often in those parts, put me upon it; for he said he was sure the inhabitants would not have touched us after we had made a truce, if we had not done something to provoke them to it. At length it came out, viz. that an old woman, who had come to sell us some milk, had brought it within our poles, with a young woman with her, who also brought some roots or herbs; and while the old woman (whether she was mother to the young woman or no they could not tell) was selling us the milk, one of our men offered some rudeness to the wench that was with her, at which the old woman made a great noise. However, the seaman would not quit his prize, but carried her out of the old woman's sight, among the trees, it being almost dark. The old woman went away without her, and, as we suppose, made an outcry among the people she came from; who, upon notice, raised this great army upon us in three or four hours; and it was great odds but we had been all destroyed.

One of our men was killed with a lance that was thrown at him, just at the beginning of the attack, as he sallied out of the tent we had made; the rest came off free, all but the fellow who was the occasion of all the mischief, who paid dear enough for his black mistress, for we could not hear what became of him a great while. We lay upon the shore two days after, though the wind presented, and made signals for him; made our boat sail up shore and down shore several leagues, but in vain; so we were obliged to give him over; and if he alone had suffered for it, the loss had been the less.

I could not satisfy myself, however, without venturing on shore once more, to try if I could learn any thing of him or them. It was the third night after the action that I had a great mind to learn, if I could by any means, what mischief he had done, and how the game stood on the Indian side. I was careful to do it in the dark, lest we should be attacked again; but I ought indeed to have been sure that the men I went with had been under my command before I engaged in a thing so hazardous and mischievous, as I was brought into it without my knowledge or desire.

We took twenty stout fellows with us as any in the ship, besides the supercargo and myself; and we landed two hours before midnight, at the same place where the Indians stood drawn up the evening before. I landed here, because my design, as I have said, was chiefly to see if they had quitted the field, and if they had left any marks behind them, or of the mischief we had done them; and I thought if we could surprise one or two of them, perhaps we might get our man again by way of exchange.

We landed without any noise, and divided our men into two companies, whereof the boatswain commanded one, and I the other. We neither could hear nor see any body stir when we landed; so we marched up, one body at a distance from the other, to the field of battle. At first we could see nothing, it being very dark; but by and by our boatswain, that led the first party, stumbled and fell over a dead body. This made them halt there awhile; for knowing by the circumstances that they were at the place where the Indians had stood, they waited for my coming up. Here we concluded to halt till the moon began to rise, which we knew would be in less than an hour, and then we could easily discern the havoc we had made among them. We told two-and-thirty bodies upon the ground, whereof two were not quite dead. Some had an arm, and some a leg, shot off, and one his head; those that were wounded we supposed they had carried away.

When we had made, as I thought, a full discovery of all we could come at the knowledge of, I was for going on board again; but the boatswain and his party often sent me word, that they were resolved to make a visit to the Indian town, where these dogs, as they called them, dwelt, and desired me to go along with them, and if they could find them, as they still fancied they should, they did not doubt, they said, getting a good booty, and it might be they might find Thomas Jeffrys there, that was the man's name we had lost.

Had they sent to ask my leave to go, I knew well enough what answer to have given them; for I would have commanded them instantly on board, knowing it was not a hazard fit for us to run who had a ship and a ship's loading in our charge, and a voyage to make, which depended very much upon the lives of the men; but as they sent me word they were resolved to go, and only asked me and my company to go along with them, I positively refused it, and rose up (for I was sitting on the ground) in order to go to the boat. One or two of the men began to importune me to go, and when I still refused positively, began to grumble, and say they were not under my command, and they would go. "Come, Jack," says one of the men, "will you go with me? I will go for one." Jack said he would; and another followed, and then another; and, in a word, they all left me but one, whom, with much difficulty too, I persuaded to stay; so the supercargo and I, with one man, went back to the boat, where, I told them, we would stay for them, and take care to take in as many of them as should be left; for I told them it was a mad thing they were going about, and supposed most of them would run the fate of Thomas Jeffrys.

They told me, like seamen, they would warrant it they would come off again, and they would take care, &c. So away they went. I entreated them to consider the ship and the voyage; that their lives were not their own; and that they were entrusted with the voyage in some measure; that if they miscarried, the ship might be lost for want of their help; and that they could not answer it to God and man. I said a great deal more to them on that head, but I might as well have talked to the main-mast of the ship; they were mad upon their journey; only they gave me good words, and begged I would not be angry; said they would be very cautious, and they did not doubt but they would be back again in about an hour at farthest; for the Indian town, they said, was not above half a mile off; though they found it above two miles before they got to it.

Well, they all went away as above; and though the attempt was desperate, and such as none but madmen would have gone about, yet, to give them their due, they went about it warily as well as boldly. They were gallantly armed, that is true; for they had every man a fusil or musket, a bayonet, and every man a pistol; some of them had broad cutlasses, some of them hangers, and the boatswain and two more had pole-axes; besides all which they had among them thirteen hand-grenadoes. Bolder fellows, and better provided, never went about any wicked work in the world.

When they went out their chief design was plunder, and they were in mighty hopes of finding gold there; but a circumstance, which none of them were aware of, set them on fire with revenge, and made devils of them all. When they came to the few Indian houses, which they thought had been the town, which were not above half a mile off, they were under a great disappointment; for there were not above twelve or thirteen houses; and where the town was, or how big, they knew not. They consulted therefore what to do, and were some time before they could resolve; for if they fell upon these they must cut all their throats, and it was ten to one but some of them might escape, it being in the night, though the moon was up; and if one escaped he would run away, and raise all the town, so they should have a whole army upon them. Again, on the other hand, if they went away, and left those untouched (for the people were all asleep), they could not tell which way to look for the town.

However, the last was the best advice; so they resolved to leave those houses, and look for the town as well as they could. They went on a little way, and found a cow tied to a tree: this they presently concluded would be a good guide to them; for they said the cow certainly belonged to the town before them or the town behind them, and if they untied her they should see which way she went: if she went back they had nothing to say to her, but if she went forward they had nothing to do but to follow her; so they cut the cord, which was made of twisted flags, and the cow went on before them. In a word, the cow led them directly to the town, which, as they reported, consisted of above two hundred houses or huts; and in some of these they found several families living together.

Here they found all silent; as profoundly secure as sleep and a country that had never seen an enemy of that kind could make them. Upon this they called another council to consider what they had to do, and in a word they resolved to divide themselves into three bodies, and to set three houses on fire in three parts of the town; and as the men came out, to seize them and bind them; if any resisted, they need not be asked what to do then, and so to search the rest of the houses for plunder; but resolved to march silently first through the town, and see what dimensions it was of, and consider if they might venture upon it or no.

They did so, and desperately resolved that they would venture upon them; but while they were animating one another to the work, three of them that were a little before the rest called out aloud, and told them they had found Thomas Jeffrys; they all ran up to the place; and so it was indeed, for there they found the poor fellow, hanged up naked by one arm, and his throat cut. There was an Indian house just by the tree, where they found sixteen or seventeen of the principal Indians who had been concerned in the fray with us before, and two or three of them wounded with our shot; and our men found they were awake, and talking one to another in that house, but knew not their number.

The sight of their poor mangled comrade so enraged them, as before, that they swore to one another they would be revenged, and that not an Indian who came into their hands should have quarter; and to work they went immediately, and yet not so madly as by the rage and fury they were in might be expected. Their first care was to get something that would soon take fire; but after a little search they found that would be to no purpose, for most of the houses were low, and thatched with flags or rushes, of which the country is full: so they presently made some wildfire, as we call it, by wetting a little powder in the palms of their hands; and in a quarter of an hour they set the town on fire in four or five places, and particularly that house where the Indians were not gone to bed. As soon as the fire began to blaze, the poor frighted creatures began to rush out to save their lives, but met with their fate in the attempt, and especially at the door, where they drove them back, the boatswain himself killing one or two with his pole-axe; the house being large, and many in it, he did not care to go in, but called for an hand-grenado, and threw it among them, which at first frighted them; but when it burst made such havoc among them, that they cried out in a hideous manner.

In short, most of the Indians who were in the open part of the house, were killed or hurt with the grenado, except two or three more, who pressed to the door, which the boatswain and two more kept with the bayonets in the muzzles of their pieces, and dispatched all who came that way. But there was another apartment in the house, where the prince, or king, or whatsoever he was, and several others, were; and they kept in till the house, which was by this time all of a light flame, fell in upon them, and they were smothered or burnt together.

All this while they fired not a gun, because they would not waken the people faster than they could master them; but the fire began to waken them fast enough, and our fellows were glad to keep a little together in bodies; for the fire grew so raging, all the houses being made of light combustible stuff, that they could hardly bear the street between them, and their business was to follow the fire for the surer execution. As fast as the fire either forced the people out of those houses which were burning, or frighted them out of others, our people were ready at their doors to knock them on the head, still calling and hallooing to one another to remember Thomas Jeffrys.

While this was doing I must confess I was very uneasy, and especially when I saw the flames of the town, which, it being night, seemed to be just by me.

My nephew the captain, who was roused by his men too, seeing such a fire, was very uneasy, not knowing what the matter was, or what danger I was in; especially hearing the guns too, for by this time they began to use their fire-arms. A thousand thoughts oppressed his mind concerning me and the supercargo, what should become of us; and at last, though he could ill spare any more men, yet, not knowing what exigence we might be in, he takes another boat, and with thirteen men and himself comes on shore to me.

He was surprised to see me and the supercargo in the boat with no more than two men, for one had been left to keep the boat; and though he was glad that we were well, yet he was in the same impatience with us to know what was doing, for the noise continued and the flame increased. I confess it was next to an impossibility for any men in the world to restrain their curiosity of knowing what had happened, or their concern for the safety of the men. In a word, the captain told me he would go and help his men, let what would come. I argued with him, as I did before with the men, the safety of the ship, and the danger of the voyage, the interest of the owners and merchants, &c. and told him I would go, and the two men, and only see if we could, at a distance, learn what was like to be the event, and come back and tell him.

It was all one to talk to my nephew, as it was to talk to the rest before; he would go, he said, and he only wished he had left but ten men in the ship, for he could not think of having his men lost for want of help; he had rather, he said, lose the ship, the voyage, and his life, and all: and so away went he.

Nor was I any more able to stay behind now than I was to persuade them not to go before; so, in short, the captain ordered two men to row back the pinnace, and fetch twelve men more from the ship, leaving the long-boat at an anchor; and that when they came back six men should keep the two boats, and six more come after us, so that he left only sixteen men in the ship; for the whole ship's company consisted of sixty-five men, whereof two were lost in the first quarrel which brought this mischief on.

Being now on the march, you may be sure we felt little of the ground we trod on, and being guided by the fire we kept no path, but went directly to the place of the flame. If the noise of the guns were surprising to us before, the cries of the poor people were now quite of another nature, and filled us with horror. I must confess I never was at the sacking of a city, or at the taking of a town by storm; I have heard of Oliver Cromwell taking Drogheda in Ireland, and killing man, woman, and child; and I had read of Count Tilly sacking the city of Magdebourg, and cutting the throats of 22,000 of both sexes; but I never had an idea of the thing itself before, nor is it possible to describe it, or the horror which was upon our minds at hearing it.

However, we went on, and at length came to the town, though there was no entering the streets of it for the fire. The first object we met with was the ruins of a hut or house, or rather the ashes of it, for the house was consumed; and just before it, plain now to be seen by the light of the fire, lay four men and three women killed; and, as we thought, one or two more lay in the heap among the fire. In short, these were such instances of a rage altogether barbarous, and of a fury something beyond what was human, that we thought it impossible our men could be guilty of it; or if they were the authors of it, we thought that every one of them ought to be put to the worst of deaths: but this was not all; we saw the fire increased forward, and the cry went on just as the fire went on, so that we were in the utmost confusion. We advanced a little way farther, and beheld to our astonishment three women naked, crying in a most dreadful manner, and flying as if they had indeed had wings, and after them sixteen or seventeen men, natives, in the same terror and consternation, with three of our English butchers (for I can call them no better) in the rear, who, when they could not overtake them, fired in among them, and one that was killed by their shot fell down in our sight: when the rest saw us, believing us to be their enemies; and that we would murder them as well as those that pursued them, they set up a most dreadful shriek, especially the women, and two of them fell down as if already dead with the fright.

My very soul shrunk within me, and my blood ran chill in my veins, when I saw this; and I believe had the three English sailors that pursued them come on, I had made our men kill them all. However, we took some ways to let the poor flying creatures know that we would not hurt them, and immediately they came up to us, and kneeling down, with their hands lifted up, made piteous lamentations to us to save them, which we let them know we would do; where upon they kept all together in a huddle close behind us for protection. I left my men drawn up together, and charged them to hurt nobody, but if possible to get at some of our people, and see what devil it was possessed them, and what they intended to do; and in a word to command them off, assuring them that if they staid till daylight they would have a hundred thousand men about their ears: I say, I left them and went among those flying people, taking only two of our men with me; and there was indeed a piteous spectacle among them: some of them had their feet terribly burnt with trampling and running through the fire, others their hands burnt; one of the women had fallen down in the fire, and was almost burnt to death before she could get out again; two or three of the men had cuts in their backs and thighs, from our men pursuing, and another was shot through the body, and died while I was there.

I would fain have learnt what the occasion of all this was, but I could not understand one word they said, though by signs I perceived that some of them knew not what was the occasion themselves. I was so terrified in my thoughts at this outrageous attempt, that I could not stay there, but went back to my own men: I told them my resolution, and commanded them to follow me, when in the very moment came four of our men, with the boatswain at their head, running over the heaps of bodies they had killed, all covered with blood and dust, as if they wanted more people to massacre, when our men hallooed to them as loud as they could halloo, and with much ado one of them made them hear, so that they knew who we were, and came up to us.

As soon as the boatswain saw us he set up a halloo, like a shout of triumph, for having, as he thought, more help come; and without bearing to hear me, "Captain," says he, "noble captain, I am glad you are come; we have not half done yet: villains! hell-hound dogs! I will kill as many of them as poor Tom has hairs upon his head. We have sworn to spare none of them; we will root out the very name of them from the earth." And thus he ran on, out of breath too with action, and would not give us leave to speak a word.

At last, raising my voice, that I might silence him a little, "Barbarous dog!" said I, "what are you doing? I won't have one creature touched more upon pain of death. I charge you upon your life to stop your hands, and stand still here, or you are a dead man this minute."

"Why, Sir," says he, "do you know what you do, or what they have done? If you want a reason for what we have done, come hither;" and with that he shewed me the poor fellow hanging upon a tree, with his throat cut.

I confess I was urged then myself, and at another time should have been forward enough; but I thought they had carried their rage too far, and thought of Jacob's words to his sons Simeon and Levi, "Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel." But I had now a new task upon my hands; for when the men I carried with me saw the sight as I had done, I had as much to do to restrain them, as I should have had with the others; nay, my nephew himself fell in with them, and told me in their hearing, that he was only concerned for fear of the men being overpowered; for, as to the people, he thought not one of them ought to live; for they had all glutted themselves with the murder of the poor man, and that they ought to be used like murderers. Upon these words away ran eight of my men with the boatswain and his crew to complete their bloody work; and I, seeing it quite out of my power to restrain them, came away pensive and sad, for I could not bear the sight, much less the horrible noise and cries of the poor wretches that fell into their hands.

I got nobody to come back with me but the supercargo and two men, and with these I walked back to the boats. It was a very great piece of folly in me, I confess, to venture back as it were alone; for as it began now to be almost day, and the alarm had run over the country, there stood about forty men armed with lances and bows at the little place where the twelve or thirteen houses stood mentioned before, but by accident I missed the place, and came directly to the sea-side; and by that time I got to the sea-side it was broad day: immediately I took the pinnace and went aboard, and sent her back to assist the men in what might happen.

I observed that about the time I came to the boat-side the fire was pretty well out, and the noise abated; but in about half an hour after I got on board I heard a volley of our men's fire-arms, and saw a great smoke; this, as I understood afterwards, was our men falling upon the forty men, who, as I said, stood at the few houses on the way; of whom they killed sixteen or seventeen, and set all those houses on fire, but did not meddle with the women or children.

By the time the men got to the shore again with the pinnace our men began to appear; they came dropping in some and some, not in two bodies, and in form, as they went out, but all in heaps, straggling here and there in such a manner that a small force of resolute men might have cut them all off.

But the dread of them was upon the whole country. The people were amazed and surprised, and so frighted that I believe a hundred of them would have fled at the sight of but five of our men. Nor in all this terrible action was there a man who made any considerable defence; they were so surprised between the terror of the fire, and the sudden attack of our men in the dark, that they knew not which way to turn themselves; for if they fled one way they were met by one party, if back again by another; so that they were every where knocked down. Nor did any of our men receive the least hurt, except one who strained his foot, and another had one of his hands very much burnt.

I was very angry with my nephew the captain, and indeed with all the men, in my mind, but with him in particular, as well for his acting so out of his duty, as commander of the ship, and having the charge of the voyage upon him, as in his prompting rather than cooling the rage of his men in so bloody and cruel an enterprise: my nephew answered me very respectfully, but told me that when he saw the body of the poor seaman whom they had murdered in such a cruel and barbarous manner, he was not master of himself, neither could he govern his passion; he owned he should not have done so, as he was commander of the ship, but as he was a man, and nature moved him, he could not bear it. As for the rest of the men, they were not subject to me at all, and they knew it well enough, so they took no notice of my dislike.

The next day we set sail, so we never heard any more of it. Our men differed in the account of the number they killed; some said one thing, some another; but according to the best of their accounts, put all together, they killed or destroyed about a hundred and fifty people, men, women, and children, and left not a house standing in the town.

As for the poor fellow, Thomas Jeffrys, as he was quite dead, for his throat was so cut that his head was half off, it would do him no service to bring him away; so they left him where they found him, only took him down from the tree where he was hanged by one hand.

However just our men thought this action to be, I was against them in it, and I always after that time told them God would blast the voyage; for I looked upon the blood they shed that night to be murder in them: for though it is true that they killed Thomas Jeffrys, yet it was as true that Jeffrys was the aggressor, had broken the truce, and had violated or debauched a young woman of theirs, who came to our camp innocently, and on the faith of their capitulation.

The boatswain defended this quarrel when we were afterwards on board. He said, it was true that we seemed to break the truce, but really had not, and that the war was begun the night before by the natives themselves, who had shot at us, and killed one of our men without any just provocation; so that as we were in a capacity to fight them, we might also be in a capacity to do ourselves justice upon them in an extraordinary manner; that though the poor man had taken liberty with a wench, he ought not to have been murdered, and that in such a villanous manner; and that they did nothing but what was just, and that the laws of God allowed to be done to murderers.

One would think this should have been enough to have warned us against going on shore among heathens and barbarians; but it is impossible to make mankind wise but at their own experience; and their experience seems to be always of most use to them when it is dearest bought.

We were now bound to the Gulf of Persia, and from thence to the coast of Coromandel, only to touch at Surat; but the chief of the supercargo's design lay at the Bay of Bengal, where if he missed of the business outward-bound he was to go up to China, and return to the coast as he came home.

The first disaster that befel us was in the Gulf of Persia, where five of our men venturing on shore on the Arabian side of the Gulf were surrounded by the Arabs, and either all killed or carried away into slavery; the rest of the boat's crew were not able to rescue them, and had but just time to get off their boat. I began to upbraid them with the just retribution of Heaven in this case; but the boatswain very warmly told me, he thought I went farther in my censures than I could show any warrant for in Scripture, and referred to the thirteenth of St. Luke, ver. 4, where our Saviour intimates that those men on whom the tower of Siloam fell, were not sinners above all the Galileans; but that which indeed put me to silence in this case was, that none of these five men who were now lost were of the number of those who went on shore to the massacre of Madagascar (so I always called it, though our men could not bear the word massacre with any patience:) and indeed this last circumstance, as I have said, put me to silence for the present.

But my frequent preaching to them on this subject had worse consequences than I expected; and the boatswain, who had been the head of the attempt, came up boldly to me one time, and told me he found that I continually brought that affair upon the stage, that I made unjust reflections upon it, and had used the men very ill on that account, and himself in particular; that as I was but a passenger, and had no command in the ship, or concern in the voyage, they were not obliged to bear it; that they did not know but I might have some ill design in my head, and perhaps call them to an account for it when they came to England; and that therefore, unless I would resolve to have done with it, and also not to concern myself farther with him, or any of his affairs, he would leave the ship; for he did not think it was safe to sail with me among them.

I heard him patiently enough till he had done, and then told him that I did confess I had all along opposed the massacre of Madagascar, for such I would always call it; and that I had on all occasions spoken my mind freely about it, though not more upon him than any of the rest; that as to my having no command in the ship, that was true, nor did I exercise any authority, only took the liberty of speaking my mind in things which publicly concerned us all: as to what concern I had in the voyage, that was none of his business; I was a considerable owner of the ship, and in that claim I conceived I had a right to speak, even farther than I had yet done, and would not be accountable to him or any one else; and began to be a little warm with him: he made but little reply to me at that time, and I thought that affair had been over. We were at this time in the road to Bengal; and being willing to see the place, I went on shore with the supercargo, in the ship's boat, to divert myself; and towards evening was preparing to go on board, when one of the men came to me, and told me he would not have me trouble myself to come down to the boat, for they had orders not to carry me on board. Any one may guess what a surprise I was in at so insolent a message; and I asked the man who bade him deliver that errand to me? He told me, the coxswain. I said no more to the fellow, but bid him let them know he had delivered his message, and that I had given him no answer to it.

I immediately went and round out the supercargo, and told him the story, adding, what I presently foresaw, viz. that there would certainly be a mutiny in the ship; and entreated him to go immediately on board the ship in an Indian boat, and acquaint the captain of it: but I might have spared this intelligence, for before I had spoken to him on shore the matter was effected on board: the boatswain, the gunner, the carpenter, and, in a word, all the inferior officers, as soon as I was gone off in the boat, came up to the quarter-deck, and desired to speak with the captain; and there the boatswain making a long harangue, (for the fellow talked very well) and repeating all he had said to me, told the captain in a few words, that as I was now gone peaceably on shore, they were loath to use any violence with me; which if I had not gone on shore, they would otherwise have done, to oblige me to have gone. They therefore thought fit to tell him, that as they shipped themselves to serve in the ship under his command, they would perform it faithfully; but if I would not quit the ship, or the captain oblige me to quit it, they would all leave the ship, and sail no farther with him; and at that word All, he turned his face about towards the main-mast, which was, it seems, the signal agreed on between them, at which all the seamen being got together, they cried out, "One and All, One and All!"

My nephew, the captain, was a man of spirit, and of great presence of mind; and though he was surprised, you may be sure, at the thing, yet he told them calmly he would consider of the matter, but that he could do nothing in it till he had spoken to me about it: he used some arguments with them, to shew them the unreasonableness and injustice of the thing, but it was all in vain; they swore, and shook hands round, before his face, that they would go all on shore unless he would engage to them not to suffer me to come on board the ship.

This was a hard article upon him, who knew his obligation to me, and did not know how I might take it; so he began to talk cavalierly to them; told them that I was a very considerable owner of the ship, and that in justice he could not put me out of my own house; that this was next door to serving me as the famous pirate Kid had done, who made the mutiny in the ship, set the captain on shore in an uninhabited island, and ran away with the ship; that let them go into what ship they would, if ever they came to England again it would cost them dear; that the ship was mine, and that he would not put me out of it; and that he would rather lose the ship, and the voyage too, than disoblige me so much; so they might do as they pleased. However, he would go on shore, and talk with me there, and invited the boatswain to go with him, and perhaps they might accommodate the matter with me.

But they all rejected the proposal; and said, they would have nothing to do with me any more, neither on board nor on shore; and if I came on board, they would go on shore. "Well," said the captain, "if you are all of this mind, let me go on shore, and talk with him:" so away he came to me with this account, a little after the message had been brought to me from the coxswain.

I was very glad to see my nephew I must confess, for I was not without apprehensions that they would confine him by violence, set sail, and run away with the ship; and then I had been stripped naked, in a remote country, and nothing to help myself: in short, I had been in a worse case than when I was all alone in the island.

But they had not come to that length, it seems, to my great satisfaction; and when my nephew told me what they had said to him, and how they had sworn, and shook hands, that they would one and all leave the ship, if I was suffered to come on board, I told him he should not be concerned at it at all, for I would stay onshore; I only desired he would take care and send me all my necessary things on shore, and leave me a sufficient sum of money, and I would find my way to England as well as I could.

This was a heavy piece of news to my nephew; but there was no way to help it, but to comply with it. So, in short, he went on board the ship again, and satisfied the men that his uncle had yielded to their importunity, and had sent for his goods from on board the ship. So the matter was over in a very few hours; the men returned to their duty, and I begun to consider what course I should steer.

I was now alone in the remotest part of the world, as I think I may call it, for I was near three thousand leagues, by sea, farther off from England than I was at my island; only, it is true, I might travel here by land, over the Great Mogul's country to Surat, might go from thence to Bassora by sea, up the Gulf of Persia, and from thence might take the way of the caravans, over the deserts of Arabia, to Aleppo and Scanderoon, and from thence by sea again to Italy, and so overland into France; and this, put together, might be, at least, a full diameter of the globe; but, if it were to be measured, I suppose it would appear to be a great deal more.

I had another way before me, which was to wait for some English ships, which were coming to Bengal, from Achin, on the island of Sumatra, and get passage on board them for England: but as I came hither without any concern with the English East India Company, so it would be difficult to go from hence without their licence, unless with great favour of the captains of the ships, or of the Company's factors; and to both I was an utter stranger.

Here I had the particular pleasure, speaking by contrarieties, to see the ship set sail without me; a treatment, I think, a man in my circumstances scarce ever met with, except from pirates running away with a ship, and setting those that would not agree with their villany on shore: indeed this was the next door to it both ways. However, my nephew left me two servants, or rather, one companion and one servant: the first was clerk to the purser, whom he engaged to go with me; and the other was his own servant. I took me also a good lodging in the house of an English woman, where several merchants lodged, some French, two Italians, or rather Jews, and one Englishman. Here I was handsomely enough entertained; and that I might not be said to run rashly upon any thing, I stayed here above nine months, considering what course to take, and how to manage myself. I had some English goods with me of value, and a considerable sum of money; my nephew furnishing me with a thousand pieces of eight, and a letter of credit for more, if I had occasion, that I might not be straitened, whatever might happen.

I quickly disposed of my goods, and to advantage too; and, as I originally intended, I bought here some very good diamonds, which, of all other things, was the most proper for me, in my circumstances, because I might always carry my whole estate about me.

After a long stay here, and many proposals made for my return to England, but none falling to my mind, the English merchant, who lodged with me, and with whom I had contracted an intimate acquaintance, came to me one morning: "Countryman," says he, "I have a project to communicate to you, which, as it suits with my thoughts, may, for aught I know, suit with yours also, when you shall have thoroughly considered it.

"Here we are posted," says he, "you by accident, and I by my own choice, in a part of the world very remote from our own country; but it is in a country where, by us who understand trade and business, a great deal of money is to be got: if you will put a thousand pounds to my thousand pounds, we will hire a ship here, the first we can get to our minds; you shall be captain, I'll be merchant, and we will go a trading voyage to China; for what should we stand still for? The whole world is in motion, rolling round and round; all the creatures of God, heavenly bodies and earthly, are busy and vibrant: why should we be idle? There are no drones," says he, "living in the world but men: why should we be of that number?"

I liked this proposal very well; and the more because it seemed to be expressed with so much good will, and in so friendly a manner. I will not say, but that I might, by my loose and unhinged circumstances, be the fitter to embrace a proposal for trade, and indeed for any thing else; or otherwise trade was none of my element; however, I might, perhaps, say with some truth, that if trade was not my element, rambling was; and no proposal for seeing any part of the world, which I had never seen before, could possibly come amiss to me.

It was, however, some time before we could get a ship to our mind; and when we got a vessel, it was not easy to get English sailors; that is to say, so many as were necessary to govern the voyage, and manage the sailors which we should pick up there. After some time we got a mate, a boatswain, and a gunner, English; a Dutch carpenter, and three Portuguese foremast-men: with these we found we could do well enough, having Indian seamen, such as they are, to make up.

There are so many travellers who have written the history of their voyages and travels this way, that it would be but very little diversion to any body, to give a long account of the places we went to, and the people who inhabit there: those things I leave to others, and refer the reader to those journals and travels of Englishmen, many of which, I find, are published, and more promised every day. It is enough for me to tell you that we made the voyage to Achin, in the island of Sumatra, first; and from thence to Siam, where we exchanged some of our wares for opium, and for some arrack; the first a commodity which bears a great price among the Chinese, and which, at that time, was very much wanted there: in a word, we went up to Susham; made a very great voyage; were eight months out; and returned to Bengal: and I was very well satisfied with my adventure.