large basket of rusk or biscuit, and three jars of fresh water, into the boat. I knew where my patron's case of
bottles stood, which it was evident, by the make, were taken out of some English prize, and I conveyed them
into the boat while the Moor was on shore, as if they had been there before for our master. I conveyed also a
great lump of beeswax into the boat, which weighed about half a hundred.weight, with a parcel of twine or
thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer, all of which were of great use to us afterwards, especially the wax, to
make candles. Another trick I tried upon him, which he innocently came into also: his name was Ismael,
which they call Muley, or Moely; so I called to him . "Moely," said I, "our patron's guns are on board the
boat; can you not get a little powder and shot? It may be we may kill some alcamies (a fowl like our curlews)
for ourselves, for I know he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship." "Yes," says he, "I'll bring some;" and
accordingly he brought a great leather pouch, which held a pound and a half of powder, or rather more; and
another with shot, that had five or six pounds, with some bullets, and put all into the boat. At the same time I
had found some powder of my master's in the great cabin, with which I filled one of the large bottles in the
case, which was almost empty, pouring what was in it into another; and thus furnished with everything
needful, we sailed out of the port to fish. The castle, which is at the entrance of the port, knew who we were,
and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port before we hauled in our sail and set us
down to fish. The wind blew from the N.N.E., which was contrary to my desire, for had it blown southerly I
had been sure to have made the coast of Spain, and at least reached to the bay of Cadiz; but my resolutions
were, blow which way it would, I would be gone from that horrid place where I was, and leave the rest to
fate.
After we had fished some time and caught nothing . for when I had fish on my hook I would not pull them
up, that he might not see them . I said to the Moor, "This will not do; our master will not be thus served; we
must stand farther off." He, thinking no harm, agreed, and being in the head of the boat, set the sails; and, as I
had the helm, I ran the boat out near a league farther, and then brought her to, as if I would fish; when, giving
the boy the helm, I stepped forward to where the Moor was, and making as if I stooped for something behind
him, I took him by surprise with my arm under his waist, and tossed him clear overboard into the sea. He rose
immediately, for he swam like a cork, and called to me, begged to be taken in, told me he would go all over
the world with me. He swam so strong after the boat that he would have reached me very quickly, there being
but little wind; upon which I stepped into the cabin, and fetching one of the fowling.pieces, I presented it at
him, and told him I had done him no hurt, and if he would be quiet I would do him none. "But," said I, "you
swim well enough to reach to the shore, and the sea is calm; make the best of your way to shore, and I will do
you no harm; but if you come near the boat I'll shoot you through the head, for I am resolved to have my
liberty;" so he turned himself about, and swam for the shore, and I make no doubt but he reached it with ease,
for he was an excellent swimmer.
I could have been content to have taken this Moor with me, and have drowned the boy, but there was no
venturing to trust him. When he was gone, I turned to the boy, whom they called Xury, and said to him,
"Xury, if you will be faithful to me, I'll make you a great man; but if you will not stroke your face to be true
to me" . that is, swear by Mahomet and his father's beard . "I must throw you into the sea too." The boy
smiled in my face, and spoke so innocently that I could not distrust him, and swore to be faithful to me, and
go all over the world with me.
While I was in view of the Moor that was swimming, I stood out directly to sea with the boat, rather
stretching to windward, that they might think me gone towards the Straits' mouth (as indeed any one that had
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Robinson Crusoe
been in their wits must have been supposed to do): for who would have supposed we were sailed on to the
southward, to the truly Barbarian coast, where whole nations of negroes were sure to surround us with their
canoes and destroy us; where we could not go on shore but we should be devoured by savage beasts, or more
merciless savages of human kind.
But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I changed my course, and steered directly south and by east,
bending my course a little towards the east, that I might keep in with the shore; and having a fair, fresh gale
of wind, and a smooth, quiet sea, I made such sail that I believe by the next day, at three o'clock in the
afternoon, when I first made the land, I could not be less than one hundred and fifty miles south of Sallee;
quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco's dominions, or indeed of any other king thereabouts, for we saw no
people.
Yet such was the fright I had taken of the Moors, and the dreadful apprehensions I had of falling into their
hands, that I would not stop, or go on shore, or come to an anchor; the wind continuing fair till I had sailed in
that manner five days; and then the wind shifting to the southward, I concluded also that if any of our vessels
were in chase of me, they also would now give over; so I ventured to make to the coast, and came to an
anchor in the mouth of a little river, I knew not what, nor where, neither what latitude, what country, what
nation, or what river. I neither saw, nor desired to see any people; the principal thing I wanted was fresh
water. We came into this creek in the evening, resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was dark, and
discover the country; but as soon as it was quite dark, we heard such dreadful noises of the barking, roaring,
and howling of wild creatures, of we knew not what kinds, that the poor boy was ready to die with fear, and
begged of me not to go on shore till day. "Well, Xury," said I, "then I won't; but it may be that we may see
men by day, who will be as bad to us as those lions." "Then we give them the shoot gun," says Xury,
laughing, "make them run wey." Such English Xury spoke by conversing among us slaves. However, I was
glad to see the boy so cheerful, and I gave him a dram (out of our patron's case of bottles) to cheer him up.
After all, Xury's advice was good, and I took it; we dropped our little anchor, and lay still all night; I say still,
for we slept none; for in two or three hours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them) of
many sorts, come down to the sea.shore and run into the water, wallowing and washing themselves for the
pleasure of cooling themselves; and they made such hideous howlings and yellings, that I never indeed heard
the like.
Xury was dreadfully frighted, and indeed so was I too; but we were both more frighted when we heard one of
these mighty creatures come swimming towards our boat; we could not see him, but we might hear him by
his blowing to be a monstrous huge and furious beast. Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so for aught I
know; but poor Xury cried to me to weigh the anchor and row away; "No," says I, "Xury; we can slip our
cable, with the buoy to it, and go off to sea; they cannot follow us far." I had no sooner said so, but I
perceived the creature (whatever it was) within two oars' length, which something surprised me; however, I
immediately stepped to the cabin door, and taking up my gun, fired at him; upon which he immediately
turned about and swam towards the shore again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrid noises, and hideous cries and howlings that were raised, as well
upon the edge of the shore as higher within the country, upon the noise or report of the gun, a thing I have
some reason to believe those creatures had never heard before: this convinced me that there was no going on
shore for us in the night on that coast, and how to venture on shore in the day was another question too; for to
have fallen into the hands of any of the savages had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of the lions
and tigers; at least we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it.
Be that as it would, we were obliged to go on shore somewhere or other for water, for we had not a pint left
in the boat; when and where to get to it was the point. Xury said, if I would let him go on shore with one of
the jars, he would find if there was any water, and bring some to me. I asked him why he would go? why I
should not go, and he stay in the boat? The boy answered with so much affection as made me love him ever
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Robinson Crusoe
after. Says he, "If wild mans come, they eat me, you go wey." "Well, Xury," said I, "we will both go and if
the wild mans come, we will kill them, they shall eat neither of us." So I gave Xury a piece of rusk bread to
eat, and a dram out of our patron's case of bottles which I mentioned before; and we hauled the boat in as
near the shore as we thought was proper, and so waded on shore, carrying nothing but our arms and two jars
for water.
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming of canoes with savages down the river; but the
boy seeing a low place about a mile up the country, rambled to it, and by.and.by I saw him come running
towards me. I thought he was pursued by some savage, or frighted with some wild beast, and I ran forward
towards him to help him; but when I came nearer to him I saw something hanging over his shoulders, which
was a creature that he had shot, like a hare, but different in colour, and longer legs; however, we were very
glad of it, and it was very good meat; but the great joy that poor Xury came with, was to tell me he had found
good water and seen no wild mans.
But we found afterwards that we need not take such pains for water, for a little higher up the creek where we
were we found the water fresh when the tide was out, which flowed but a little way up; so we filled our jars,
and feasted on the hare he had killed, and prepared to go on our way, having seen no footsteps of any human
creature in that part of the country.
As I had been one voyage to this coast before, I knew very well that the islands of the Canaries, and the Cape
de Verde Islands also, lay not far off from the coast. But as I had no instruments to take an observation to
know what latitude we were in, and not exactly knowing, or at least remembering, what latitude they were in,
I knew not where to look for them, or when to stand off to sea towards them; otherwise I might now easily
have found some of these islands. But my hope was, that if I stood along this coast till I came to that part
where the English traded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design of trade, that would
relieve and take us in.
By the best of my calculation, that place where I now was must be that country which, lying between the
Emperor of Morocco's dominions and the negroes, lies waste and uninhabited, except by wild beasts; the
negroes having abandoned it and gone farther south for fear of the Moors, and the Moors not thinking it
worth inhabiting by reason of its barrenness; and indeed, both forsaking it because of the prodigious number
of tigers, lions, leopards, and other furious creatures which harbour there; so that the Moors use it for their
hunting only, where they go like an army, two or three thousand men at a time; and indeed for near a hundred
miles together upon this coast we saw nothing but a waste, uninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but
howlings and roaring of wild beasts by night.
Once or twice in the daytime I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe, being the high top of the Mountain
Teneriffe in the Canaries, and had a great mind to venture out, in hopes of reaching thither; but having tried
twice, I was forced in again by contrary winds, the sea also going too high for my little vessel; so, I resolved
to pursue my first design, and keep along the shore.
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh water, after we had left this place; and once in particular, being
early in morning, we came to an anchor under a little point of land, which was pretty high; and the tide
beginning to flow, we lay still to go farther in. Xury, whose eyes were more about him than it seems mine
were, calls softly to me, and tells me that we had best go farther off the shore; "For," says he, "look, yonder
lies a dreadful monster on the side of that hillock, fast asleep." I looked where he pointed, and saw a dreadful
monster indeed, for it was a terrible, great lion that lay on the side of the shore, under the shade of a piece of
the hill that hung as it were a little over him. "Xury," says I, "you shall on shore and kill him." Xury, looked
frighted, and said, "Me kill! he eat me at one mouth!" . one mouthful he meant. However, I said no more to
the boy, but bade him lie still, and I took our biggest gun, which was almost musket.bore, and loaded it with
a good charge of powder, and with two slugs, and laid it down; then I loaded another gun with two bullets;
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Robinson Crusoe
and the third (for we had three pieces) I loaded with five smaller bullets. I took the best aim I could with the
first piece to have shot him in the head, but he lay so with his leg raised a little above his nose, that the slugs
hit his leg about the knee and broke the bone. He started up, growling at first, but finding his leg broken, fell
down again; and then got upon three legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard. I was a little
surprised that I had not hit him on the head; however, I took up the second piece immediately, and though he
began to move off, fired again, and shot him in the head, and had the pleasure to see him drop and make but
