my father, the opposition to which was, as I may call it, my ORIGINAL SIN, my subsequent mistakes of the
same kind had been the means of my coming into this miserable condition; for had that Providence which so
happily seated me at the Brazils as a planter blessed me with confined desires, and I could have been
contented to have gone on gradually, I might have been by this time . I mean in the time of my being in this
island . one of the most considerable planters in the Brazils . nay, I am persuaded, that by the improvements
I had made in that little time I lived there, and the increase I should probably have made if I had remained, I
might have been worth a hundred thousand moidores . and what business had I to leave a settled fortune, a
well.stocked plantation, improving and increasing, to turn supercargo to Guinea to fetch negroes, when
patience and time would have so increased our stock at home, that we could have bought them at our own
door from those whose business it was to fetch them? and though it had cost us something more, yet the
difference of that price was by no means worth saving at so great a hazard. But as this is usually the fate of
young heads, so reflection upon the folly of it is as commonly the exercise of more years, or of the
dear.bought experience of time . so it was with me now; and yet so deep had the mistake taken root in my
temper, that I could not satisfy myself in my station, but was continually poring upon the means and
possibility of my escape from this place; and that I may, with greater pleasure to the reader, bring on the
remaining part of my story, it may not be improper to give some account of my first conceptions on the
subject of this foolish scheme for my escape, and how, and upon what foundation, I acted.
I am now to be supposed retired into my castle, after my late voyage to the wreck, my frigate laid up and
secured under water, as usual, and my condition restored to what it was before: I had more wealth, indeed,
than I had before, but was not at all the richer; for I had no more use for it than the Indians of Peru had before
the Spaniards came there.
It was one of the nights in the rainy season in March, the four. and.twentieth year of my first setting foot in
this island of solitude, I was lying in my bed or hammock, awake, very well in health, had no pain, no
distemper, no uneasiness of body, nor any uneasiness of mind more than ordinary, but could by no means
close my eyes, that is, so as to sleep; no, not a wink all night long, otherwise than as follows: It is impossible
to set down the innumerable crowd of thoughts that whirled through that great thoroughfare of the brain, the
memory, in this night's time. I ran over the whole history of my life in miniature, or by abridgment, as I may
call it, to my coming to this island, and also of that part of my life since I came to this island. In my
reflections upon the state of my case since I came on shore on this island, I was comparing the happy posture
of my affairs in the first years of my habitation here, with the life of anxiety, fear, and care which I had lived
in ever since I had seen the print of a foot in the sand. Not that I did not believe the savages had frequented
the island even all the while, and might have been several hundreds of them at times on shore there; but I had
never known it, and was incapable of any apprehensions about it; my satisfaction was perfect, though my
danger was the same, and I was as happy in not knowing my danger as if I had never really been exposed to
it. This furnished my thoughts with many very profitable reflections, and particularly this one: How infinitely
good that Providence is, which has provided, in its government of mankind, such narrow bounds to his sight
and knowledge of things; and though he walks in the midst of so many thousand dangers, the sight of which,
if discovered to him, would distract his mind and sink his spirits, he is kept serene and calm, by having the
events of things hid from his eyes, and knowing nothing of the dangers which surround him.
After these thoughts had for some time entertained me, I came to reflect seriously upon the real danger I had
been in for so many years in this very island, and how I had walked about in the greatest security, and with all
possible tranquillity, even when perhaps nothing but the brow of a hill, a great tree, or the casual approach of
night, had been between me and the worst kind of destruction . viz. that of falling into the hands of cannibals
CHAPTER XIV . A DREAM REALISED
Robinson Crusoe
and savages, who would have seized on me with the same view as I would on a goat or turtle; and have
thought it no more crime to kill and devour me than I did of a pigeon or a curlew. I would unjustly slander
myself if I should say I was not sincerely thankful to my great Preserver, to whose singular protection I
acknowledged, with great humanity, all these unknown deliverances were due, and without which I must
inevitably have fallen into their merciless hands.
When these thoughts were over, my head was for some time taken up in considering the nature of these
wretched creatures, I mean the savages, and how it came to pass in the world that the wise Governor of all
things should give up any of His creatures to such inhumanity . nay, to something so much below even
brutality itself . as to devour its own kind: but as this ended in some (at that time) fruitless speculations, it
occurred to me to inquire what part of the world these wretches lived in? how far off the coast was from
whence they came? what they ventured over so far from home for? what kind of boats they had? and why I
might not order myself and my business so that I might be able to go over thither, as they were to come to
me?
I never so much as troubled myself to consider what I should do with myself when I went thither; what would
become of me if I fell into the hands of these savages; or how I should escape them if they attacked me; no,
nor so much as how it was possible for me to reach the coast, and not to be attacked by some or other of
them, without any possibility of delivering myself: and if I should not fall into their hands, what I should do
for provision, or whither I should bend my course: none of these thoughts, I say, so much as came in my way;
but my mind was wholly bent upon the notion of my passing over in my boat to the mainland. I looked upon
my present condition as the most miserable that could possibly be; that I was not able to throw myself into
anything but death, that could be called worse; and if I reached the shore of the main I might perhaps meet
with relief, or I might coast along, as I did on the African shore, till I came to some inhabited country, and
where I might find some relief; and after all, perhaps I might fall in with some Christian ship that might take
me in: and if the worst came to the worst, I could but die, which would put an end to all these miseries at
once. Pray note, all this was the fruit of a disturbed mind, an impatient temper, made desperate, as it were, by
the long continuance of my troubles, and the disappointments I had met in the wreck I had been on board of,
and where I had been so near obtaining what I so earnestly longed for . somebody to speak to, and to learn
some knowledge from them of the place where I was, and of the probable means of my deliverance. I was
agitated wholly by these thoughts; all my calm of mind, in my resignation to Providence, and waiting the
issue of the dispositions of Heaven, seemed to be suspended; and I had as it were no power to turn my
thoughts to anything but to the project of a voyage to the main, which came upon me with such force, and
such an impetuosity of desire, that it was not to be resisted.
When this had agitated my thoughts for two hours or more, with such violence that it set my very blood into a
ferment, and my pulse beat as if I had been in a fever, merely with the extraordinary fervour of my mind
about it, Nature . as if I had been fatigued and exhausted with the very thoughts of it . threw me into a sound
sleep. One would have thought I should have dreamed of it, but I did not, nor of anything relating to it, but I
dreamed that as I was going out in the morning as usual from my castle, I saw upon the shore two canoes and
eleven savages coming to land, and that they brought with them another savage whom they were going to kill
in order to eat him; when, on a sudden, the savage that they were going to kill jumped away, and ran for his
life; and I thought in my sleep that he came running into my little thick grove before my fortification, to hide
himself; and that I seeing him alone, and not perceiving that the others sought him that way, showed myself
to him, and smiling upon him, encouraged him: that he kneeled down to me, seeming to pray me to assist
him; upon which I showed him my ladder, made him go up, and carried him into my cave, and he became my
servant; and that as soon as I had got this man, I said to myself, "Now I may certainly venture to the
mainland, for this fellow will serve me as a pilot, and will tell me what to do, and whither to go for
provisions, and whither not to go for fear of being devoured; what places to venture into, and what to shun." I
waked with this thought; and was under such inexpressible impressions of joy at the prospect of my escape in
my dream, that the disappointments which I felt upon coming to myself, and finding that it was no more than
CHAPTER XIV . A DREAM REALISED
Robinson Crusoe
a dream, were equally extravagant the other way, and threw me into a very great dejection of spirits.
Upon this, however, I made this conclusion: that my only way to go about to attempt an escape was, to
endeavour to get a savage into my possession: and, if possible, it should be one of their prisoners, whom they
had condemned to be eaten, and should bring hither to kill. But these thoughts still were attended with this
difficulty: that it was impossible to effect this without attacking a whole caravan of them, and killing them
all; and this was not only a very desperate attempt, and might miscarry, but, on the other hand, I had greatly
scrupled the lawfulness of it to myself; and my heart trembled at the thoughts of shedding so much blood,
though it was for my deliverance. I need not repeat the arguments which occurred to me against this, they
being the same mentioned before; but though I had other reasons to offer now . viz. that those men were
enemies to my life, and would devour me if they could; that it was self.preservation, in the highest degree, to
deliver myself from this death of a life, and was acting in my own defence as much as if they were actually
assaulting me, and the like; I say though these things argued for it, yet the thoughts of shedding human blood
for my deliverance were very terrible to me, and such as I could by no means reconcile myself to for a great
while. However, at last, after many secret disputes with myself, and after great perplexities about it (for all
these arguments, one way and another, struggled in my head a long time), the eager prevailing desire of
deliverance at length mastered all the rest; and I resolved, if possible, to get one of these savages into my
hands, cost what it would. My next thing was to contrive how to do it, and this, indeed, was very difficult to
resolve on; but as I could pitch upon no probable means for it, so I resolved to put myself upon the watch, to
see them when they came on shore, and leave the rest to the event; taking such measures as the opportunity
should present, let what would be.
With these resolutions in my thoughts, I set myself upon the scout as often as possible, and indeed so often
that I was heartily tired of it; for it was above a year and a half that I waited; and for great part of that time
went out to the west end, and to the south. west corner of the island almost every day, to look for canoes, but
none appeared. This was very discouraging, and began to trouble me much, though I cannot say that it did in
this case (as it had done some time before) wear off the edge of my desire to the thing; but the longer it
seemed to be delayed, the more eager I was for it: in a word, I was not at first so careful to shun the sight of
these savages, and avoid being seen by them, as I was now eager to be upon them. Besides, I fancied myself
able to manage one, nay, two or three savages, if I had them, so as to make them entirely slaves to me, to do
whatever I should direct them, and to prevent their being able at any time to do me any hurt. It was a great
while that I pleased myself with this affair; but nothing still presented itself; all my fancies and schemes came
to nothing, for no savages came near me for a great while.
About a year and a half after I entertained these notions (and by long musing had, as it were, resolved them
all into nothing, for want of an occasion to put them into execution), I was surprised one morning by seeing
no less than five canoes all on shore together on my side the island, and the people who belonged to them all
landed and out of my sight. The number of them broke all my measures; for seeing so many, and knowing
that they always came four or six, or sometimes more in a boat, I could not tell what to think of it, or how to
take my measures to attack twenty or thirty men single.handed; so lay still in my castle, perplexed and
discomforted. However, I put myself into the same position for an attack that I had formerly provided, and
was just ready for action, if anything had presented. Having waited a good while, listening to hear if they
made any noise, at length, being very impatient, I set my guns at the foot of my ladder, and .clambered up to
the top of the hill, by my two stages, as usual; standing so, however, that my head did not appear above the
hill, so that they could not perceive me by any means. Here I observed, by the help of my perspective glass,
that they were no less than thirty in number; that they had a fire kindled, and that they had meat dressed. How
they had cooked it I knew not, or what it was; but they were all dancing, in I know not how many barbarous
gestures and figures, their own way, round the fire.
While I was thus looking on them, I perceived, by my perspective, two miserable wretches dragged from the
