(영어소설 통독) 로빈슨 크루소의 모험 11부

너무도 유명한 영어소설 '로빈슨 크루소의 모험(총604쪽)'입니다. 하루에 2시간 정도씩을 투자하여 1부씩을 읽으면 15일만에 통독할 수 있습니다. 2부씩을 읽으시면 1주일만에 끝장 납니다. 절대 사전을 찾으면 안됩니다. 모르는 문장은 계속 추측하며 넘어 갑니다. 시야를 넓게 여시고 숲을 보는 훈련을 하시기 바랍니다.

독해력의 핵심은 상상력입니다. 영어소설을 읽을 때는 문장을 보시지 말고 이야기를 보시기 바랍니다. 문장은 몰라도 좋습니다. 그 속에 들어있는 이야기만 느낄 수 있다면 훌륭한 독해를 한 것입니다. 한 단어 한 단어가 주는 이미지만 따라가도  충분한 독해가 됩니다. 단어를 다 알 필요도 없습니다. 몇 개의 단어만으로도 뜻을 충분히 상상해 낼 수 있습니다. 오히려 그런 사람이 독해의 고수입니다. 또한 소설을 읽으면서 문장구조를 다 파악할 필요는 전혀 없습니다. 그것은 굉장한 시간 낭비입니다. 모국인들도 문장구조를 다 파악하면서 읽지는 않습니다. 이야기의 흐름을 잡고 그것을 느끼며 앞에서 저자가 설명이 부족했던 부분 혹은 자신이 이해하지 못했거나 놓쳤던 부분은 뒤에서 이리저리 보충하며 이야기를 엮어나가고 또한 증폭시켜 나가는 것입니다. 

좀 힘들지만 꼭 한 번 도전해 보시기 바랍니다. 비록 이해를 100% 다 못했더라도 전혀 문제가 되지 않습니다. 이 책에는 약간의 고어체 영어가 섞여 나오지만 읽는 데는 전혀 지장이 없습니다. 오히려 구어체가 거의 없는 정통파 문어체 문장이기 때문에 한국인들에게는 더 쉽게 느껴질 수도 있습니다. 이 책을 빠른 시일내에 통독하고 나면 영문을 보는 눈이 확 달라질 것입니다. 이런 식으로라도 여기서 이런 책을 읽지 않으면 여러분의 평생에 이런 책을 통독할 기회는 오지 않을 겁니다. 부디 도전하셔서 한 번 끝장을 보시고 영어의 새로운 지평을 경험하시기 바랍니다. 저는 이 책을 2번 읽었는데 한 번 더 도전해볼 생각입니다. 여러분들의 건투를 빕니다^^

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The Spaniards charged again with the utmost expedition, [page 401] and then divided themselves into three bodies, and resolved to fall in among them all together. They had in each body eight persons; that is to say, twenty-four, whereof were twenty-two men, and the two women, who, by the way, fought desperately.

They divided the fire-arms equally in each party, and so of the halberts and staves. They would have had the women keep back; but they said they were resolved to die with their husbands. Having thus formed their little army, they marched out from among the trees, and came up to the teeth of the enemy, shouting and hallooing as loud as they could. The savages stood all together, but were in the utmost confusion, hearing the noise of our men shouting from three quarters together; they would have fought if they had seen us; and as soon as we came near enough to be seen, some arrows were shot, and poor old Friday was wounded, though not dangerously. But our men gave them no time, but running up to them, fired among them three ways, and then fell in with the butt ends of their muskets, their swords, armed staves, and hatchets; and laid about them so well, that in a word they set up a dismal screaming and howling, flying to save their lives which way soever they could.

Our men were tired with the execution; and killed, or mortally wounded, in the two fights, about one hundred and eighty of them: the rest, being frighted out of their wits, scoured through the woods and over the hills, with all the speed that fear and nimble feet could help them to do; and as we did not trouble ourselves much to pursue them, they got all together to the sea-side, where they landed, and where their canoes lay. But their disaster was not at an end yet, for it blew a terrible storm of wind that evening from the seaward, so that it was impossible for them to put off; nay, the storm continuing all night, when the tide came up their canoes were most of them driven by the surge of the sea so high upon the shore, that it required infinite toil to get them off; and some of them [page 402] were even dashed to pieces against the beach, or against one another.

Our men, though glad of their victory, yet got little rest that night; but having refreshed themselves as well as they could, they resolved to march to that part of the island where the savages were fled, and see what posture they were in. This necessarily led them over the place where the fight had been, and where they found several of the poor creatures not quite dead, and yet past recovering life; a sight disagreeable enough to generous minds; for a truly great man, though obliged by the law of battle to destroy his enemy, takes no delight in his misery.

However, there was no need to give any order in this case; for their own savages, who were their servants, dispatched those poor creatures with their hatchets.

At length they came in view of the place where the more miserable remains of the savages' army lay, where there appeared about one hundred still: their posture was generally sitting upon the ground, with their knees up towards their mouth, and the head put between the hands, leaning down upon the knees.

When our men came within two musket-shot of them, the Spaniard governor ordered two muskets to be fired without ball, to alarm them; this he did, that by their countenance he might know what to expect, viz. whether they were still in heart to fight, or were so heartily beaten, as to be dispirited and discouraged, and so he might manage accordingly.

This stratagem took; for as soon as the savages heard the first gun, and saw the flash of the second, they started up upon their feet in the greatest consternation imaginable; and as our men advanced swiftly towards them, they all ran screaming and yawling away, with a kind of an howling noise, which our men did not understand, and had never heard before; and thus they ran up the hills into the country.

At first our men had much rather the weather had [page 403] been calm, and they had all gone away to sea; but they did not then consider, that this might probably have been the occasion of their coming again in such multitudes as not to be resisted; or, at least, to come so many and so often, as would quite desolate the island and starve them. Will Atkins therefore, who, notwithstanding his wound, kept always with them, proved the best counsellor in this case. His advice was, to take the advantage that offered, and clap in between them and their boats, and so deprive them of the capacity of ever returning any more to plague the island.

They consulted long about this, and some were against it, for fear of making the wretches fly into the woods, and live there desperate; and so they should have them to hunt like wild beasts, be afraid to stir about their business, and have their plantation continually rifled, all their tame goats destroyed, and, in short, be reduced to a life of continual distress.

Will Atkins told them they had better have to do with one hundred men than with one hundred nations; that as they must destroy their boats, so they must destroy the men, or be all of them destroyed themselves. In a word, he shewed them the necessity of it so plainly, that they all came into it; so they went to work immediately with the boats, and getting some dry wood together from a dead tree, they tried to set some of them on fire; but they were so wet that they would scarce burn. However, the fire so burned the upper part, that it soon made them unfit for swimming in the sea as boats. When the Indians saw what they were about, some of them came running out of the woods, and coming as near as they could to our men, kneeled down and cried, Oa, Oa, Waramokoa, and some other words of their language, which none of the others understood any thing of; but as they made pitiful gestures and strange noises, it was easy to understand they begged to have their boats spared, and that they would be gone, and never return thither again.

[page 404]

But our men were now satisfied, that they had no way to preserve themselves or to save their colony, but effectually to prevent any of these people from ever going home again; depending upon this, that if ever so much as one of them got back into their country to tell the story, the colony was undone; so that letting them know that they should not have any mercy, they fell to work with their canoes, and destroyed them, every one that the storm had not destroyed before; at the sight of which the savages raised a hideous cry in the woods, which our people heard plain enough; after which they ran about the island like distracted men; so that, in a word, our men did not really know at first what to do with them.

Nor did the Spaniards, with all their prudence, consider that while they made those people thus desperate, they ought to have kept good guard at the same time upon their plantations; for though it is true they had driven away their cattle, and the Indians did not find their main retreat, I mean my old castle at the hill, nor the cave in the valley; yet they found out my plantation at the bower, and pulled it all to pieces, and all the fences and planting about it; trod all the corn under foot; tore up the vines and grapes, being just then almost ripe, and did our men an inestimable damage, though to themselves not one farthing's-worth of service.

Though our men were able to fight them upon all occasions, yet they were in no condition to pursue them, or hunt them up and down; for as they were too nimble of foot for our men when they found them single, so our men durst not go about single for fear of being surrounded with their numbers: the best was, they had no weapons; for though they had bows they had no arrows left, nor any materials to make any, nor had they any edged tool or weapon among them. The extremity and distress they were reduced to was great, and indeed deplorable, but at the same time our men were also brought to very hard circumstances by them; for though their retreats were preserved, [page 405] yet their provision was destroyed, and their harvest spoiled; and what to do or which way to turn themselves, they knew not; the only refuge they had now was the stock of cattle they had in the valley by the cave, and some little corn which grew there. The three Englishmen, William Atkins and his comrades, were now reduced to two, one of them being killed by an arrow, which struck him on the side of his head, just under the temples, so that he never spoke more; and it was very remarkable, that this was the same barbarous fellow who cut the poor savage slave with his hatchet, and who afterwards intended to have murdered the Spaniards.

I look upon their case to have been worse at this time than mine was at any time after I first discovered the grains of barley and rice, and got into the method of planting and raising my corn, and my tame cattle; for now they had, as I may say, an hundred wolves upon the island, which would devour every thing they could come at, yet could be very hardly come at themselves.

The first thing they concluded when they saw what their circumstances were, was, that they would, if possible, drive them up to the farther part of the island, south-east, that if any more savages came on shore, they might not find one another; then that they would daily hunt and harass them, and kill as many of them as they could come at, till they had reduced the number; and if they could at last tame them, and bring them to any thing, they would give them corn, and teach them how to plant, and live upon their daily Labour.

In order to this they followed them, and so terrified them with their guns, that in a few days, if any of them fired a gun at an Indian, if he did not hit him, yet he would fall down for fear; and so dreadfully frighted they were, that they kept out of sight farther and farther, till at last our men following them, and every day almost killing and wounding some of them, they kept up in the woods and hollow places so much, [page 406] that it reduced them to the utmost misery for want of food; and many were afterwards found dead in the woods, without any hurt, but merely starved to death.

When our men found this, it made their hearts relent, and pity moved them; especially the Spaniard governor, who was the most gentleman-like, generous-minded man that ever I met with in my life; and he proposed, if possible, to take one of them alive, and bring him to understand what they meant, so far as to be able to act as interpreter, and to go among them, and see if they might be brought to some conditions that might be depended upon, to save their lives, and do us no spoil.

It was some time before any of them could be taken; but being weak, and half-starved, one of them was at last surprised, and made a prisoner: he was sullen at first, and would neither eat nor drink; but finding himself kindly used, and victuals given him, and no violence offered him, he at last grew tractable, and came to himself.

They brought old Friday to him, who talked often with him, and told him how kind the others would be to them all: that they would not only save their lives, but would give them a part of the island to live in, provided they would give satisfaction; that they should keep in their own bounds, and not come beyond them, to injure or prejudice others; and that they should have corn given them, to plant and make it grow for their bread, and some bread given them for their present subsistence; and old Friday bade the fellow go and talk with the rest of his countrymen, and hear what they said to it, assuring them that if they did not agree immediately they should all be destroyed.

The poor wretches, thoroughly humbled, and reduced in number to about thirty-seven, closed with the proposal at the first offer, and begged to have some food given them; upon which twelve Spaniards and two Englishmen, well armed, and three Indian slaves, and old Friday, marched to the place where they [page 407] were; the three Indian slaves carried them a large quantity of bread, and some rice boiled up to cakes, and dried in the sun, and three live goats; and they were ordered to go to the side of an hill, where they sat down, ate the provisions very thankfully, and were the most faithful fellows to their words that could be thought of; for except when they came to beg victuals and directions they never came out of their bounds; and there they lived when I came to the island, and I went to see them.

They had taught them both to plant corn, make read, breed tame goats, and milk them; they wanted nothing but wives, and they soon would have been a nation: they were confined to a neck of land surrounded with high rocks behind them, and lying plain towards the sea before them, on the south-east corner of the island; they had land enough, and it was very good and fruitful; for they had a piece of land about a mile and a half broad, and three or four miles in length.

Our men taught them to make wooden spades, such as I made for myself; and gave among them twelve hatchets, and three or four knives; and there they lived, the most subjected innocent creatures that were ever heard of.

After this the colony enjoyed a perfect tranquillity with respect to the savages, till I came to revisit them, which was in about two years. Not but that now and then some canoes of savages came on shore for their triumphal, unnatural feasts; but as they were of several nations, and, perhaps, had never heard of those that came before, or the reason of it, they did not make any search or inquiry after their countrymen; and if they had, it would have been very hard for them to have found them out.

Thus, I think, I have given a full account of all that happened to them to my return, at least that was worth notice. The Indians, or savages, were wonderfully civilized by them, and they frequently went among them; but forbid, on pain of death, any of the Indians [page 408] coming to them, because they would not have their settlement betrayed again.

One thing was very remarkable, viz. that they taught the savages to make wicker-work, or baskets; but they soon outdid their masters; for they made abundance of most ingenious things in wicker-work; particularly all sorts of baskets, sieves, bird-cages, cupboards, &c. as also chairs to sit on, stools, beds, couches, and abundance of other things, being very ingenious at such work when they were once put in the way of it.

My coming was a particular relief to these people, because we furnished them with knives, scissars, spades, shovels, pickaxes, and all things of that kind which they could want.

With the help of these tools they were so very handy, that they came at last to build up their huts, or houses, very handsomely; raddling, or working it up like basket-work all the way round, which was a very extraordinary piece of ingenuity, and looked very odd; but was an exceeding good fence, as well against heat, as against all sorts of vermin; and our men were so taken with it, that they got the wild savages to come and do the like for them; so that when I came to see the two Englishmen's colonies, they looked, at a distance, as if they lived all like bees in a hive; and as for Will Atkins, who was now become a very industrious, necessary, and sober fellow, he had made himself such a tent of basket work as I believe was never seen. It was one hundred and twenty paces round on the outside, as I measured by my steps; the walls were as close worked as a basket, in pannels or squares, thirty-two in number, and very strong, standing about seven feet high: in the middle was another not above twenty-two paces round, but built stronger, being eight-square in its form, and in the eight corners stood eight very strong posts, round the top of which he laid strong pieces, joined together with wooden pins, from which he raised a pyramid before the roof of eight rafters, very handsome I assure you, and joined together very well, though he had no nails, and [page 409] only a few iron spikes, which he had made himself too, out of the old iron that I had left there; and indeed this fellow shewed abundance of ingenuity in several things which he had no knowledge of; he made himself a forge, with a pair of wooden bellows to blow the fire; he made himself charcoal for his work, and he formed out of one of the iron crows a middling good anvil to hammer upon; in this manner he made many things, but especially hooks, staples and spikes, bolts and hinges. But to return to the house: after he pitched the roof of his innermost tent, he worked it up between the rafters with basket-work, so firm, and thatched that over again so ingeniously with rice-straw, and over that a large leaf of a tree, which covered the top, that his house was as dry as if it had been tiled or slated. Indeed he owned that the savages made the basket-work for him.

The outer circuit was covered, as a lean-to, all round his inner, apartment, and long rafters lay from the thirty two angles to the top posts of the inner house, being about twenty feet distant; so that there was a space like a walk within the outer wicker wall, and without the inner, near twenty feet wide.

The inner place he partitioned off with the same wicker work, but much fairer, and divided into six apartments, for that he had six rooms on a floor, and out of every one of these there was a door: first, into the entry, or coming into the main tent; and another door into the space or walk that was round it; so that this walk was also divided into six equal parts, which served not only for a retreat, but to store up any necessaries which the family had occasion for. These six spaces not taking up the whole circumference, what other apartments the outer circle had, were thus ordered: as soon as you were in at the door of the outer circle, you had a short passage straight before you to the door of the inner house; but on either side was a wicker partition, and a door in it, by which you went first into a large room or storehouse, twenty feet wide, [page 410] and about thirty feet long, and through that into another not quite so long: so that in the outer circle were ten handsome rooms, six of which were only to be come at through the apartments of the inner tent, and served as closets or retired rooms to the respective chambers of the inner circle; and four large warehouses or barns, or what you please to call them, which went in through one another, two on either hand of the passage that led through the outer door to the inner tent.

Such a piece of basket-work, I believe, was never seen in the world; nor an house or tent so neatly contrived, much less so built. In this great beehive lived the three families; that is to say, Will Atkins and his companions; the third was killed, but his wife remained with three children; for she was, it seems, big with child when he died, and the other two were not at all backward to give the widow her full share of every thing, I mean as to their corn, milk, grapes, &c. and when they killed a kid, or found a turtle on the shore; so that they all lived well enough, though it was true, they were not so industrious as the other two, as has been observed already.

One thing, however, cannot be omitted, viz. that, as for religion, I don't know that there was any thing of that kind among them; they pretty often indeed put one another in mind that there was a God, by the very common method of seamen, viz. swearing by his name; nor were their poor, ignorant, savage wives much the better for having been married to Christians as we must call them; for as they knew very little of God themselves, so they were utterly incapable of entering into any discourse with their wives about a God or to talk any thing to them concerning religion.

The utmost of all the improvement which I can say the wives had made from them, was, that they had taught them to speak English pretty well; and all the children they had, which were near twenty in all were taught to speak English too, from their first learning to speak, though they at first spoke it in a very [page 411] broken manner, like their mothers. There were none of those children above six years old when I came thither; for it was not much above seven years that they had fetched these five savage ladies over, but they had all been pretty fruitful, for they had all children, more or less: I think the cook's mate's wife was big of her sixth child; and the mothers were all a good sort of well-governed, quiet, laborious women, modest and decent, helpful to one another, mighty observant and subject to their masters, I cannot call them husbands; and wanted nothing but to be well instructed in the Christian religion, and to be legally married; both which were happily brought about afterwards by my means, or at least by the consequence of my coming among them.

Having thus given an account of the colony in general, and pretty much of my five runagate Englishmen, I must say something of the Spaniards, who were the main body of the family, and in whose story there are some incidents also remarkable enough.

I had a great many discourses with them about their circumstances when they were among the savages; they told me readily, that they had no instances to give of their application or ingenuity in that country; that they were a poor, miserable, dejected handful of people; that if means had been put into their hands, they had yet so abandoned themselves to despair, and so sunk under the weight of their misfortunes, that they thought of nothing but starving. One of them, a grave and very sensible man, told me he was convinced they were in the wrong; that it was not the part of wise men to give up themselves to their misery, but always to take hold of the helps which reason offered, as well for present support, as for future deliverance; he told me that grief was the most senseless insignificant passion in the world, for that it regarded only things past, which were generally impossible to he recalled or to be remedied, but had no view to things to come, and had no share in any thing that looked like deliverance, but rather added to the affliction [page 412] than proposed a remedy; and upon this he repeated a Spanish proverb, which though I cannot repeat in just the same words that he spoke it, yet I remember I made it into an English proverb of my own, thus;

In trouble to be troubled,
Is to have your trouble doubled.

He then ran on in remarks upon all the little improvements I had made in my solitude; my unwearied application, as he called it, and how I had made a condition, which in its circumstances was at first much worse than theirs, a thousand times more happy than theirs was, even now when they were all together. He told me it was remarkable that Englishmen had a greater presence of mind in their distress than any people that ever he met with; that their unhappy nation, and the Portuguese, were the worst men in the world to struggle with misfortunes; for that their first step in dangers, after common efforts are over, was always to despair, lie down under it and die, without rousing their thoughts up to proper remedies for escape.

I told him their case and mine differed exceedingly; that they were cast upon the shore without necessaries, without supply of food, or of present sustenance, till they could provide it; that it is true, I had this disadvantage and discomfort, that I was alone; but then the supplies I had providentially thrown into my hands, by the unexpected driving of the ship on shore, was such a help as would have encouraged any creature in the world to have applied himself as I had done. "Seignior," says the Spaniard, "had we poor Spaniards been in your case we should never have gotten half those things out of the ship as you did." "Nay," says he, "we should never have found means to have gotten a raft to carry them, or to have gotten a raft on shore without boat or sail; and how much less should we have done," said he, "if any of us had been alone!" Well, I desired him to abate his [page 413] compliment, and go on with the history of their coming on shore, where they landed. He told me they unhappily landed at a place where there were people without provisions; whereas, had they had the common sense to have put off to sea again, and gone to another island a little farther, they had found provisions though without people; there being an island that way, as they had been told, where there were provisions though no people; that is to say, that the Spaniards of Trinidad had frequently been there, and filled the island with goats and hogs at several times, where they have bred in such multitudes, and where turtle and sea-fowls were in such plenty, that they could have been in no want of flesh though they had found no bread; whereas here they were only sustained with a few roots and herbs, which they understood not, and which had no substance in them, and which the inhabitants gave them sparingly enough, and who could treat them no better unless they would turn cannibals, and eat men's flesh, which was the great dainty of the country.

They gave me an account how many ways they strove to civilize the savages they were with, and to teach them rational customs in the ordinary way of living, but in vain; and how they retorted it upon them as unjust, that they, who came thither for assistance and support, should attempt to set up for instructors of those that gave them bread; intimating, it seems, that none should set up for the instructors of others but those who could live without them.

They gave me dismal accounts of the extremities they were driven to; how sometimes they were many days without any food at all, the island they were upon being inhabited by a sort of savages that lived more indolent, and for that reason were less supplied with the necessaries of life than they had reason to believe others were in the same part of the world; and yet they found that these savages were less ravenous and voracious than those who had better supplies of food.

[page 414]

Also they added, that they could not but see with what demonstrations of wisdom and goodness the governing providence of God directs the event of things in the world, which they said appeared in their circumstances; for if, pressed by the hardships they were under, and the barrenness of the country where they were, they had searched after a better place to live in, they had then been out of the way of the relief that happened to them by my means.

Then they gave me an account how the savages whom they lived among expected them to go out with them into their wars; and it was true, that as they had fire-arms with them, had they not had the disaster to lose their ammunition, they should not have been serviceable only to their friends, but have made themselves terrible both to friends and enemies; but being without powder and shot, and in a condition that they could not in reason deny to go out with their landlords to their wars; when they came in the field of battle they were in a worse condition than the savages themselves, for they neither had bows nor arrows, nor could they use those the savages gave them, so that they could do nothing but stand still and be wounded with arrows, till they came up to the teeth of their enemy; and then indeed the three halberts they had were of use to them, and they would often drive a whole little army before them with those halberts and sharpened sticks put into the muzzles of their muskets: but that for all this, they were sometimes surrounded with multitudes, and in great danger from their arrows; till at last they found the way to make themselves large targets of wood, which they covered with skins of wild beasts, whose names they knew not, and these covered them from the arrows of the savages; that notwithstanding these, they were sometimes in great danger, and were once five of them knocked down together with the clubs of the savages, which was the time when one of them was taken prisoner, that is to say, the Spaniard whom I had relieved; that at first they thought he had been [page 415] killed, but when afterwards they heard he was taken prisoner, they were under the greatest grief imaginable, and would willingly have all ventured their lives to have rescued him.

They told me, that when they were so knocked down, the rest of their company rescued them, and stood over them fighting till they were come to themselves, all but he who they thought had been dead; and then they made their way with their halberts and pieces, standing close together in a line, through a body of above a thousand savages, beating down all that came in their way, got the victory over their enemies, but to their great sorrow, because it was with the loss of their friend; whom the other party, finding him alive, carried off with some others, as I gave an account in my former.

They described, most affectionately, how they were surprised with joy at the return of their friend and companion in misery, who they thought had been devoured by wild beasts of the worst kind, viz. by wild men; and yet how more and more they were surprised with the account he gave them of his errand, and that there was a Christian in a place near, much more one that was able, and had humanity enough to contribute to their deliverance.

They described how they were astonished at the sight of the relief I sent them, and at the appearance of loaves of bread, things they had not seen since their coming to that miserable place; how often they crossed it, and blessed it as bread sent from heaven; and what a reviving cordial it was to their spirits to taste it, as also of the other things I had sent for their supply. And, after all, they would have told me something of the joy they were in at the sight of a boat and pilots to carry them away to the person and place from whence all these new comforts came; but they told me it was impossible to express it by words, for their excessive joy driving them to unbecoming extravagancies, they had no way to describe them but by telling me that they bordered upon lunacy, having [page 416] no way to give vent to their passion suitable to the sense that was upon them; that in some it worked one way, and in some another; and that some of them, through a surprise of joy, would burst out into tears; others be half mad, and others immediately faint. This discourse extremely affected me, and called to my mind Friday's ecstasy when he met his father, and the poor people's ecstasy when I took them up at sea, after their ship was on fire; the mate of the ship's joy, when he found himself delivered in the place where he expected to perish; and my own joy, when after twenty-eight years captivity I found a good ship ready to carry me to my own country. All these things made me more sensible of the relation of these poor men, and more affected with it.

Having thus given a view of the state of things as I found them, I must relate the heads of what I did for these people, and the condition in which I left them. It was their opinion, and mine too, that they would be troubled no more with the savages; or that, if they were, they would be able to cut them off, if they were twice as many as before; so that they had no concern about that. Then I entered into a serious discourse with the Spaniard whom I called governor, about their stay in the island; for as I was not come to carry any of them off, so it would not be just to carry off some and leave others, who perhaps would be unwilling to stay if their strength was diminished.

On the other hand I told them, I came to establish them there, not to remove them; and then I let them know that I had brought with me relief of sundry kinds for them; that I had been at a great charge to supply them with all things necessary, as well for their convenience as their defence; and that I had such particular persons with me, as well to increase and recruit their number, as by the particular necessary employments which they were bred to, being artificers, to assist them in those things in which at present they were to seek.

They were all together when I talked thus to them; [page 417] and before I delivered to them the stores I had brought, I asked them, one by one, if they had entirely forgot and buried the first animosities that had been among them, and could shake hands with one another, and engage in a strict friendship and union of interest, so that there might be no more misunderstandings or jealousies.

William Atkins, with abundance of frankness and good humour, said, they had met with afflictions enough to make them all sober, and enemies enough to make them all friends: that for his part he would live and die with them; and was so far from designing any thing against the Spaniards, that he owned they had done nothing to him but what his own bad humour made necessary, and what he would have done, and perhaps much worse, in their case; and that he would ask them pardon, if I desired it, for the foolish and brutish things he had done to them; and was very willing and desirous of living on terms of entire friendship and union with them; and would do any thing that lay in his power, to convince them of it: and as for going to England, he cared not if he did not go thither these twenty years.

The Spaniards said, they had indeed at first disarmed and excluded William Atkins and his two countrymen, for their ill conduct, as they had let me know; and they appealed to me for the necessity they were under to do so; but that William Atkins had behaved himself so bravely in the great fight they had with the savages, and on several occasions since, and had shewed himself so faithful to, and concerned for the general interest of them all, that they had forgotten all that was past, and thought he merited as much to be trusted with arms, and supplied with necessaries, as any of them; and that they had testified their satisfaction in him, by committing the command to him, next to the governor himself; and as they had an entire confidence in him and all his countrymen, so they acknowledged they had merited that confidence by [page 418] all the methods that honest men could merit to be valued and trusted; and they most heartily embraced the occasion of giving me this assurance, that they would never have any interest separate from one another.

Upon these frank and open declarations of friendship, we appointed the next day to dine all together, and indeed we made a splendid feast. I caused the ship's cook and his mate to come on shore and dress our dinner, and the old cook's mate we had on shore assisted. We brought on shore six pieces of good beef, and four pieces of pork, out of the ship's provision, with our punch-bowl, and materials to fill it; and, in particular, I gave them ten bottles of French claret, and ten bottles of English beer, things that neither the Spaniards nor the Englishmen had tasted for many years; and which it may be supposed they were exceeding glad of.

The Spaniards added to our feast five whole kids, which the cooks roasted; and three of them were sent, covered up close, on board our ship to the seamen, that they might feast on fresh meat from on shore, as we did with their salt meal from on board.

After this feast, at which we were very innocently merry, I brought out my cargo of goods, wherein, that there might be no dispute about dividing, I shewed them that there was sufficient for them all; and desired that they might all take an equal quantity of the goods that were for wearing; that is to say, equal when made up. As first, I distributed linen sufficient to make every one of them four shirts; and, at the Spaniards' request, afterwards made them up six; these were exceeding comfortable to them, having been what, as I may say, they had long since forgot the use of, or what it was to wear them.

I allotted the thin English stuffs, which I mentioned before, to make every one a light coat like a frock, which I judged fittest for the heat of the season, cool and loose; and ordered, that whenever they decayed, [page 419] they should make more, as they thought fit. The like for pumps, shoes, stockings, and hats, &c.

I cannot express what pleasure, what satisfaction, sat upon the countenances of all these poor men when they saw the care I had taken of them, and how well I had furnished them; they told me I was a father to them; and that having such a correspondent as I was, in so remote a part of the world, it would make them forget that they were left in a desolate place; and they all voluntarily engaged to me not to leave the place without my consent.

Then I presented to them the people I had brought with me, particularly the tailor, the smith, and the two carpenters, all of them most necessary people; but above all, my general artificer, than whom they could not name any thing that was more needful to them; and the tailor, to shew his concern for them, went to work immediately, and, with my leave, made them every one a shirt the first thing he did; and, which was still more, he taught the women not only how to sew and stitch, and use the needle, but made them assist to make the shirts for their husbands and for all the rest.

As for the carpenters, I scarce need mention how useful they were, for they took in pieces all my clumsy unhandy things, and made them clever convenient tables, stools, bedsteads, cupboards, lockers, shelves, and every thing they wanted of that kind.

But to let them see how nature made artificers at first, I carried the carpenters to see William Atkins's basket house, as I called it, and they both owned they never saw an instance of such natural ingenuity before, nor any thing so regular and so handily built, at least of its kind; and one of them, when he saw it, after musing a good while, turning about to me, "I am sure," says he, "that man has no need of us; you need do nothing but give him tools."

Then I brought them out all my store of tools, and gave every man a digging spade, a shovel, and a rake, for we had no harrows or ploughs; and to every [page 420] separate place a pickaxe, a crow, a broadaxe, and a saw; always appointing, that as often as any were broken, or worn out, they should be supplied, without grudging, out of the general stores that I left behind.

Nails, staples, hinges, hammers, chisels, knives, scissors, and all sorts of tools and iron-work, they had without tale as they required; for no man would care to take more than he wanted, and he must be a fool that would waste or spoil them on any account whatever. And for the use of the smith I left two tons of unwrought iron for a supply.

My magazine of powder and arms which I brought them, was such, even to profusion, that they could not but rejoice at them; for now they could march, as I used to do, with a musket upon each shoulder, if there was occasion; and were able to fight a thousand savages, if they had but some little advantages of situation, which also they could not miss of if they had occasion.

I carried on shore with me the young man whose mother was starved to death, and the maid also: she was a sober, well-educated, religious young woman, and behaved so inoffensively, that every one gave her a good word. She had, indeed, an unhappy life with us, there being no woman in the ship but herself; but she bore it with patience. After a while, seeing things so well ordered, and in so fine a way of thriving upon my island, and considering that they had neither business nor acquaintance in the East Indies, or reason for taking so long a voyage; I say, considering all this, both of them came to me, and desired I would give them leave to remain on the island, and be entered among my family, as they called it.

I agreed to it readily, and they had a little plot of ground allotted to them, where they had three tents or houses set up, surrounded with a basket-work, palisaded like Atkins's, and adjoining to his plantation. Their tents were contrived so, that they had each of them a room, a part to lodge in, and a middle tent, like a great storehouse, to lay all their goods in, and [page 421] to eat and drink in. And now the other two Englishmen moved their habitation to the same place, and so the island was divided into three colonies, and no more; viz. the Spaniards, with old Friday, and the first servants, at my old habitation under the hill, which was, in a word, the capital city, and where they had so enlarged and extended their works, as well under as on the outside of the hill, that they lived, though perfectly concealed, yet full at large. Never was there such a little city in a wood, and so hid, I believe, in any part of the world; for I verily believe a thousand men might have ranged the island a month, and if they had not known there was such a thing, and looked on purpose for it, they would not have found it; for the trees stood so thick and so close, and grew so fast matted into one another, that nothing but cutting them down first, could discover the place, except the two narrow entrances where they went in and out, could be found, which was not very easy. One of them was just down at the water's edge, on the side of the creek; and it was afterwards above two hundred yards to the place; and the other was up the ladder at twice, as I have already formerly described it; and they had a large wood, thick planted, also on the top of the hill, which contained above an acre, which grew apace, and covered the place from all discovery there, with only one narrow place between two trees, not easy to be discovered, to enter on that side.

The other colony was that of Will Atkins, where there were four families of Englishmen, I mean those I had left there, with their wives and children; three savages that were slaves; the widow and children of the Englishman that was killed; the young man and the maid; and by the way, we made a wife of her also before we went away. There were also the two carpenters and the tailor, whom I brought with me for them; also the smith, who was a very necessary man to them, especially as the gunsmith, to take care of their arms; and my other man, whom I called [page 422] Jack of all Trades, who was himself as good almost as twenty men, for he was not only a very ingenious fellow, but a very merry fellow; and before I went away we married him to the honest maid that came with the youth in the ship, whom I mentioned before.

And now I speak of marrying, it brings me naturally to say something of the French ecclesiastic that I had brought with me out of the ship's crew whom I took at sea. It is true, this man was a Roman, and perhaps it may give offence to some hereafter, if I leave any thing extraordinary upon record of a man, whom, before I begin, I must (to set him out in just colours) represent in terms very much to his disadvantage in the account of Protestants; as, first, that he was a Papist; secondly, a Popish priest; and thirdly, a French Popish priest.

But justice demands of me to give him a due character; and I must say, he was a grave, sober, pious, and most religious person; exact in his life, extensive in his charity, and exemplary in almost every thing he did. What then can any one say against my being very sensible of the value of such a man, notwithstanding his profession? though it may be my opinion, perhaps as well as the opinion of others who shall read this, that he was mistaken.

The first hour that I began to converse with him, after he had agreed to go with me to the East Indies, I found reason to delight exceedingly in his conversation; and he first began with me about religion, in the most obliging manner imaginable.

"Sir," says he, "you have not only, under God" (and at that he crossed his breast), "saved my life, but you have admitted me to go this voyage in your ship, and by your obliging civility have taken me into your family, giving me an opportunity of free conversation. Now, Sir," says he, "you see by my habit what my profession is, and I guess by your nation what yours is. I may think it is my duty, and doubtless it is so, to use my utmost endeavours on all occasions to bring all the souls that I can to the knowledge [page 423] of the truth, and to embrace the Catholic doctrine; but as I am here under your permission, and in your family, I am bound in justice to your kindness, as well as in decency and good manners, to be under your government; and therefore I shall not, without your leave, enter into any debates on the points of religion, in which we may not agree, farther than you shall give me leave."

I told him his carriage was so modest that I could not but acknowledge it; that it was true, we were such people as they call heretics, but that he was not the first Catholic that I had conversed with without falling into any inconveniencies, or carrying the questions to any height in debate; that he should not find himself the worse used for being of a different opinion from us; and if we did not converse without any dislike on either side, upon that score, it would be his fault, not ours.

He replied, that he thought our conversation might be easily separated from disputes; that it was not his business to cap principles with every man he discoursed with; and that he rather desired me to converse with him as a gentleman than as a religieux; that if I would give him leave at any time to discourse upon religious subjects, he would readily comply with it; and that then he did not doubt but I would allow him also to defend his own opinions as well as he could; but that without my leave he would not break in upon me with any such thing.

He told me farther, that he would not cease to do all that became him in his office as a priest, as well as a private Christian, to procure the good of the ship, and the safety of all that was in her; and though perhaps we would not join with him, and he could not pray with us, he hoped he might pray for us, which he would do upon all occasions. In this manner we conversed; and as he was of a most obliging gentleman-like behaviour, so he was, if I may be allowed to say so, a man of good sense, and, as I believe, of great learning.

[page 424]

He gave me a most diverting account of his life, and of the many extraordinary events of it; of many adventures which had befallen him in the few years that he had been abroad in the world, and particularly this was very remarkable; viz. that during the voyage he was now engaged in he had the misfortune to be five times shipped and unshipped, and never to go to the place whither any of the ships he was in were at first designed: that his first intent was to have gone to Martinico, and that he went on board a ship bound thither at St. Maloes; but being forced into Lisbon in bad weather, the ship received some damage by running aground in the mouth of the river Tagus, and was obliged to unload her cargo there: that finding a Portuguese ship there, bound to the Madeiras, and ready to sail, and supposing he should easily meet with a vessel there bound to Martinico, he went on board in order to sail to the Madeiras; but the master of the Portuguese ship being but an indifferent mariner, had been out in his reckoning, and they drove to Fyal; where, however, he happened to find a very good market for his cargo, which was corn, and therefore resolved not to go to the Madeiras, but to load salt at the isle of May, to go away to Newfoundland. He had no remedy in the exigence but to go with the ship, and had a pretty good voyage as far as the Banks, (so they call the place where they catch the fish) where meeting with a French ship bound from France to Quebec, in the river of Canada, and from thence to Martinico, to carry provisions, he thought he should have an opportunity to complete his first design. But when he came to Quebec the master of the ship died, and the ship proceeded no farther. So the next voyage he shipped himself for France, in the ship that was burnt, when we took them up at sea, and then shipped them with us for the East Indies, as I have already said. Thus he had been disappointed in five voyages, all, as I may call it, in one voyage, besides what I shall have occasion to mention farther of the same person.

[page 425]

But I shall not make digressions into other men's stories which have no relation to my own. I return to what concerns our affair in the island. He came to me one morning, for he lodged among us all the while we were upon the island, and it happened to be just when I was going to visit the Englishmen's colony at the farthest part of the island; I say, he came to me, and told me with a very grave countenance, that he had for two or three days desired an opportunity of some discourse with me, which he hoped would not be displeasing to me, because he thought it might in some measure correspond with my general design, which was the prosperity of my new colony, and perhaps might put it at least more than he yet thought it was in the way of God's blessing.

I looked a little surprised at the last part of his discourse, and turning a little short, "How, Sir," said I, "can it be said, that we are not in the way of God's blessing, after such visible assistances and wonderful deliverances as we have seen here, and of which I have given you a large account?"

"If you had pleased, Sir," said he, with a world of modesty, and yet with great readiness, "to have heard me, you would have found no room to have been displeased, much less to think so hard of me, that I should suggest, that you have not had wonderful assistances and deliverances; and I hope, on your behalf, that you are in the way of God's blessing, and your design is exceeding good, and will prosper. But, Sir," said he, "though it were more so than is even possible to you, yet there may be some among you that are not equally right in their actions; and you know that in the story of Israel, one Achan, in the camp, removed God's blessing from them, and turned his hand so against them, that thirty-six of them, though not concerned in the crime, were the objects of divine vengeance, and bore the weight of that punishment."

I was sensibly touched with this discourse, and told him his inference was so just, and the whole design [page 426] seemed so sincere, and was really so religious in its own nature, that I was very sorry I had interrupted him, and begged him to go on; and in the meantime, because it seemed that what we had both to say might take up some time, I told him I was going to the Englishmens' plantation, and asked him to go with me, and we might discourse of it by the way. He told me he would more willingly wait on me thither, because there, partly, the thing was acted which he desired to speak to me about. So we walked on, and I pressed him to be free and plain with me in what he had to say.

"Why then, Sir," says he, "be pleased to give me leave to lay down a few propositions as the foundation of what I have to say, that we may not differ in the general principles, though we may be of some differing opinions in the practice of particulars. First, Sir, though we differ in some of the doctrinal articles of religion, and it is very unhappy that it is so, especially in the case before us, as I shall shew afterwards, yet there are some general principles in which we both agree; viz. first, that there is a God, and that this God, having given us some stated general rules for our service and obedience, we ought not willingly and knowingly to offend him, either by neglecting to do what he has commanded, or by doing what he has expressly forbidden; and let our different religions be what they will, this general principle is readily owned by us all, that the blessing of God does not ordinarily follow a presumptuous sinning against his command; and every good Christian will be affectionately concerned to prevent any that are under his care, living in a total neglect of God and his commands. It is not your men being Protestants, whatever my opinion may be of such, that discharges me from being concerned for their souls, and from endeavouring, if it lies before me, that they should live in as little distance from and enmity with their Maker as possible; especially if you give me leave to meddle so far in your circuit."

[page 427]

I could not yet imagine, what he aimed at, and told him I granted all he had said; and thanked him that he would so far concern himself for us; and begged he would explain the particulars of what he had observed, that, like Joshua, (to take his own parable) I might put away the accursed thing from us.

"Why then, Sir," says he, "I will take the liberty you give me; and there are three things which, if I am right, must stand in the way of God's blessing upon your endeavours here, and which I should rejoice, for your sake, and their own, to see removed. And, Sir," says he, "I promise myself that you will fully agree with me in them all as soon as I name them; especially because I shall convince you that every one of them may with great ease, and very much to your satisfaction, be remedied."

He gave me no leave to put in any more civilities, but went on: "First, Sir," says he, "you have here four Englishmen, who have fetched women from among the savages, and have taken them as their wives, and have had many children by them all, and yet are not married to them after any stated legal manner, as the laws of God and man require; and therefore are yet, in the sense of both, no less than adulterers, and living in adultery. To this, Sir," says he, "I know you will object, that there was no clergyman or priest of any kind, or of any profession, to perform the ceremony; nor any pen and ink, or paper, to write down a contract of marriage, and have it signed between them. And I know also, Sir, what the Spaniard governor has told you; I mean of the agreement that he obliged them to make when they took these women, viz. that they should choose them out by consent, and keep separately to them; which, by the way, is nothing of a marriage, no agreement with the women as wives, but only an agreement among themselves, to keep them from quarrelling.

"But, Sir, the essence of the sacrament of matrimony (so he called it, being a Roman) consists not only in the mutual consent of the parties to take one [page 428] another as man and wife, but in the formal and legal obligation that there is in the contract to compel the man and woman at all times to own and acknowledge each other; obliging the man to abstain from all other women, to engage in no other contract while these subsist; and on all occasions, as ability allows, to provide honestly for them and their children; and to oblige the women to the same, on like conditions, mutatis mutandis, on their side.

"Now, Sir," says he, "these men may, when they please, or when occasion presents, abandon these women, disown their children, leave them to perish, and take other women and marry them whilst these are living." And here he added, with some warmth, "How, Sir, is God honoured in this unlawful liberty? And how shall a blessing succeed your endeavours in this place, however good in themselves, and however sincere in your design, while these men, who at present are your subjects, under your absolute government and dominion, are allowed by you to live in open adultery?"

I confess I was struck at the thing itself, but much more with the convincing arguments he supported it with. For it was certainly true, that though they had no clergyman on the spot, yet a formal contract on both sides, made before witnesses, and confirmed by any token which they had all agreed to be bound by, though it had been but the breaking a stick between them, engaging the men to own these women for their wives upon all occasions, and never to abandon them or their children, and the women to the same with their husbands, had been an effectual lawful marriage in the sight of God, and it was a great neglect that it was not done.

But I thought to have gotten off with my young priest by telling him, that all that part was done when I was not here; and they had lived so many years with them now, that if it was adultery it was past remedy, they could do nothing in it now.

"Sir," says he, "asking your pardon for such freedom, [page 429] you are right in this; that it being done in your absence, you could not be charged with that part of the crime. But I beseech you, matter not yourself that you are not therefore under an obligation to do your uttermost now to put an end to it. How can you think, but that, let the time past lie on whom it will, all the guilt for the future will lie entirely upon you? Because it is certainly in your power now to put an end to it, and in nobody's power but yours."

I was so dull still, that I did not take him right, but I imagined that by putting an end to it he meant that I should part them, and not suffer them to live together any longer; and I said to him I could not do that by any means, for that it would put the whole island in confusion. He seemed surprised that I should so far mistake him. "No, Sir," says he, "I do not mean that you should separate them, but legally and effectually marry them now. And, Sir, as my way of marrying may not be so easy to reconcile them to, though it will be as effectual even by your own laws; so your way may be as well before God, and as valid among men; I mean by a written contract signed by both man and woman, and by all the witnesses present; which all the laws of Europe would decree to be valid."

I was amazed to see so much true piety, and so much sincerity of zeal, besides the unusual impartiality in his discourse, as to his own party or church, and such a true warmth for the preserving people that he had no knowledge of or relation to; I say, for preserving them from transgressing the laws of God; the like of which I had indeed not met with any where. But recollecting what he had said of marrying them by a written contract, which I knew would stand too, I returned it back upon him, and told him I granted [page 430] all that he had said to be just, and on his part very kind; that I would discourse with the men upon the point now when I came to them. And I knew no reason why they should scruple to let him marry them all; which I knew well enough would be granted to be as authentic and valid in England as if they were married by one of our own clergymen. What was afterwards done in this matter I shall speak of by itself.

I then pressed him to tell me what was the second complaint which he had to make, acknowledging I was very much his debtor for the first, and thanked him heartily for it. He told me he would use the same freedom and plainness in the second, and hoped I would take it as well; and this was, that notwithstanding these English subjects of mine, as he called them, had lived with these women for almost seven years, and had taught them to speak English, and even to read it, and that they were, as he perceived, women of tolerable understanding and capable of instruction; yet they had not, to this hour taught them any thing of the Christian religion; no not so much as to know that there was a God, or a worship, or in what manner God was to be served; or that their own idolatry, and worshipping they knew not who, was false and absurd.

This, he said, was an unaccountable neglect, and what God would certainly call them to an account for; and perhaps at last take the work out of their hands. He spoke this very affectionately and warmly. "I am persuaded," says he, "had those men lived in the savage country whence their wives came, the savages would have taken more pains to have brought them to be idolaters, and to worship the devil, than any of these men, so far as I can see, has taken with them to teach them the knowledge of the true God. Now, Sir," said he, "though I do not acknowledge your religion, or you mine, yet we should be all glad to see the devil's servants, and the subjects of his kingdom, taught to know the general principles of the Christian religion; that they might at least hear of God, and of a Redeemer, and of the resurrection, and of a future state, things which we all believe; they [page 431] had at least been so much nearer coming into the bosom of the true church, than they are now in the public profession of idolatry and devil-worship."

I could hold no longer; I took him in my arms, and embraced him with an excess of passion. "How far," said I to him, "have I been from understanding the most essential part of a Christian, viz. to love the interest of the Christian church, and the good of other men's souls! I scarce have known what belongs to being a Christian."--"O, Sir, do not say so," replied he; "this thing is not your fault."--"No," said I; "but why did I never lay it to heart as well as you?"--"It is not too late yet," said he; "be not too forward to condemn yourself."--"But what can be done now?" said I; "you see I am going away."--"Will you give me leave," said he, "to talk with these poor men about it?"--"Yes, with all my heart," said I, "and I will oblige them to give heed to what you say too."--"As to that," said he, "we must leave them to the mercy of Christ; but it is our business to assist them, encourage them, and instruct them; and if you will give me leave, and God his blessing, I do not doubt but the poor ignorant souls shall be brought home into the great circle of Christianity, if not into the particular faith that we all embrace; and that even while you stay here." Upon this I said, "I shall not only give you leave, but give you a thousand thanks for it." What followed on this account I shall mention also again in its place.

I now pressed him for the third article in which we were to blame. "Why really," says he, "it is of the same nature, and I will proceed (asking your leave) with the same plainness as before; it is about your poor savages yonder, who are, as I may say, your conquered subjects. It is a maxim, Sir, that is, or ought to be received among all Christians, of what church, or pretended church soever, viz. that Christian knowledge ought to be propagated by all possible means, and on all possible occasions. It is on this principle that our church sends missionaries into Persia, [page 432] India, and China; and that our clergy, even of the superior sort, willingly engage in the most hazardous voyages, and the most dangerous residence among murderers and barbarians, to teach them the knowledge of the true God, and to bring them over to embrace the Christian faith. Now, Sir, you have an opportunity here to have six or seven-and-thirty poor savages brought over from idolatry to the knowledge of God, their Maker and Redeemer, that I wonder how you can pass by such an occasion of doing good, which is really worth the expense of a man's whole life."

I was now struck dumb indeed, and had not one word to say; I had here a spirit of true Christian zeal for God and religion before me, let his particular principles be of what kind soever. As for me, I had not so much as entertained a thought of this in my heart before, and I believe should not have thought of it; for I looked upon these savages as slaves, and people whom, had we any work for them to do, we would have used as such, or would have been glad to have transported them to any other part of the world; for our business was to get rid of them, and we would all have been satisfied if they had been sent to any country, so they had never seen their own. But to the case: I say I was confounded at his discourse, and knew not what answer to make him. He looked earnestly at me, seeing me in some disorder; "Sir," said he, "I shall be very sorry, if what I have said gives you any offence."--"No, no," said I, "I am offended with nobody but myself; but I am perfectly confounded, not only to think that I should never take any notice of this before, but with reflecting what notice I am able to take of it now. You know, Sir," said I, "what circumstances I am in; I am bound to the East Indies, in a ship freighted by merchants, and to whom it would be an insufferable piece of injustice to detain their ship here, the men lying all this while at victuals and wages upon the owners' account. It is true, I agreed to be allowed twelve days here, and if [page 433] I stay more I must pay 32 sterling per diem demurrage; nor can I stay upon demurrage above eight days more, and I have been here thirteen days already; so that I am perfectly unable to engage in this work; unless I would suffer myself to be left behind here again; in which case, if this single ship should miscarry in any part of her voyage, I should be just in the same condition that I was left in here at first, and from which I have been so wonderfully delivered."

He owned the case was very hard upon me as to my voyage, but laid it home upon my conscience, whether the blessing of saving seven-and-thirty souls was not worth my venturing all I had in the world for. I was not so sensible of that as he was, and I returned upon him thus: "Why, Sir, it is a valuable thing indeed to be an instrument in God's hand to convert seven-and-thirty heathens to the knowledge of Christ: but as you are an ecclesiastic, and are given over to that work, so that it seems naturally to fall into the way of your profession, how is it then that you do not rather offer yourself to undertake it, than press me to it!"

Upon this he faced about, just before me, as he walked along, and pulling me to a full stop, made me a very low bow: "I most heartily thank God, and you, Sir," says he, "for giving me so evident a call to so blessed a work; and if you think yourself discharged from it, and desire me to undertake it, I will most readily do it, and think it a happy reward for all of the hazards and difficulties of such a broken disappointed voyage as I have met with, that I have dropped at last into so glorious a work."

I discovered a kind of rapture in his face while he spoke this to me; his eyes sparkled like fire, his face bowed, and his colour came and went as if he had been falling into fits; in a word, he was tired with the agony of being embarked in such a work. I paused a considerable while before I could tell what to say to him, for I was really surprised to find a man of such [page 434] sincerity and zeal, and carried out in his zeal beyond the ordinary rate of men, not of his profession only, but even of any profession whatsoever. But after I had considered it awhile, I asked him seriously if he was in earnest, and that he would venture on the single consideration of an attempt on those poor people, to be locked up in an unplanted island for perhaps his life, and at last might not know whether he should be able to do them any good or not?

He turned short upon me, and asked me what I called a venture? "Pray, Sir," said he, "what do you think I consented to go in your ship to the East Indies for?"--"Nay," said I, "that I know not, unless it was to preach to the Indians."--"Doubtless it was," said he; "and do you think if I can convert these seven-and-thirty men to the faith of Christ, it is not worth my time, though I should never be fetched off the island again? Nay, is it not infinitely of more worth to save so many souls than my life is, or the life of twenty more of the same profession? Yes, Sir," says he, "I would give Christ and the Blessed Virgin thanks all my days, if I could be made the least happy instrument of saving the souls of these poor men though I was never to set my foot off this island, or see my native country any more. But since you will honour me," says he, "with putting me into this work, (for which I will pray for you all the days of my life) I have one humble petition to you," said he "besides."--"What is that?" said I. "Why," says he, "it is, that you will leave your man Friday with me, to be my interpreter to them, and to assist me for without some help I cannot speak to them, or they to me."

I was sensibly troubled at his requesting Friday, because I could not think of parting with him, and that for many reasons. He had been the companion of my travels; he was not only faithful to me, but sincerely affectionate to the last degree; and I had resolved to do something considerable for him if he out-lived [page 435] me, as it was probable he would. Then I knew that as I had bred Friday up to be a Protestant, it would quite confound him to bring him to embrace another profession; and he would never, while his eyes were open, believe that his old master was a heretic, and would be damned; and this might in the end ruin the poor fellow's principles, and so turn him back again to his first idolatry.

However, a sudden thought relieved me in this strait, and it was this: I told him I could not say that I was willing to part with Friday on any account whatever; though a work that to him was of more value than his life, ought to me to be of much more value than the keeping or parting with a servant. But on the other hand, I was persuaded, that Friday would by no means consent to part with me; and then to force him to it without his consent would be manifest injustice, because I had promised I would never put him away, and he had promised and engaged to me that he would never leave me unless I put him away.

He seemed very much concerned at it; for he had no rational access to these poor people, seeing he did not understand one word of their language, nor they one word of his. To remove this difficulty, I told him Friday's father had learnt Spanish, which I found he also understood, and he should serve him for an interpreter; so he was much better satisfied, and nothing could persuade him but he would stay to endeavour to convert them; but Providence gave another and very happy turn to all this.

I come back now to the first part of his objections. When we came to the Englishmen I sent for them all together; and after some accounts given them of what I had done for them, viz. what necessary things I had provided for them, and how they were distributed, which they were sensible of, and very thankful for; I began to talk to them of the scandalous life they led, and gave them a full account of the notice the clergyman had already taken of it; and arguing how unchristian and irreligious a life it was, I first asked them [page 436] if they were married men or bachelors? They soon explained their condition to me, and shewed me that two of them were widowers, and the other three were single men or bachelors. I asked them with what conscience they could take these women, and lie with them as they had done, call them their wives, and have so many children by them, and not be married lawfully to them?

They all gave me the answer that I expected, viz. that there was nobody to marry them; that they agreed before the governor to keep them as their wives; and to keep them and own them as their wives; and they thought, as things stood with them, they were as legally married as if they had been married by a parson, and with all the formalities in the world.

I told them that no doubt they were married in the sight of God, and were bound in conscience to keep them as their wives; but that the laws of men being otherwise, they might pretend they were not married, and so desert the poor women and children hereafter; and that their wives, being poor, desolate women, friendless and moneyless, would have no way to help themselves: I therefore told them, that unless I was assured of their honest intent, I could do nothing for them; but would take care that what I did should be for the women and children without them; and that unless they would give some assurances that they would marry the women, I could not think it was convenient they should continue together as man and wife; for that it was both scandalous to men and offensive to God, who they could not think would bless them if they went on thus.

All this passed as I expected; and they told me, especially Will Atkins, who seemed now to speak for the rest, that they loved their wives as well as if they had been born in their own native country, and would not leave them upon any account whatever; and they did verily believe their wives were as virtuous and as modest, and did to the utmost of their skill as much [page 437] for them and for their children as any women could possibly do, and they would not part with them on any account: and Will Atkins for his own particular added, if any man would take him away, and offer to carry him home to England, and to make him captain of the best man of war in the navy, he would not go with him if he might not carry his wife and children with him; and if there was a clergyman in the ship, he would be married to her now with all his heart.

This was just as I would have it. The priest was not with me at that moment, but was not far off. So to try him farther, I told him I had a clergyman with me, and if he was sincere I would have him married the next morning, and bade him consider of it, and talk with the rest. He said, as for himself, he need not consider of it at all, for he was very ready to do it, and was glad I had a minister with me; and he believed they would be all willing also. I then told him that my friend the minister was a Frenchman, and could not speak English, but that I would act the clerk between them. He never so much as asked me whether he was a Papist or Protestant, which was indeed what I was afraid of. But I say they never inquired about it. So we parted; I went back to my clergyman, and Will Atkins went in to talk with his companions. I desired the French gentleman not to say any thing to them till the business was thorough ripe, and I told him what answer the men had given me.

Before I went from their quarter they all came to me, and told me, they had been considering what I had said; that they were very glad to hear I had a clergyman in my company; and they were very willing to give me the satisfaction I desired, and to be formally married as soon as I pleased; for they were far from desiring to part from their wives; and that they meant nothing but what was very honest when they chose them. So I appointed them to meet me the next morning, and that in the mean time they [page 438] should let their wives know the meaning of the marriage law; and that it was not only to prevent any scandal, but also to oblige them that they should not forsake them, whatever might happen.

The women were easily made sensible of the meaning of the thing, and were very well satisfied with it, as indeed they had reason to be; so they failed not to attend all together at my apartment next morning, where I brought out my clergyman: and though he had not on a minister's gown, after the manner of England, or the habit of a priest, after the manner of France; yet having a black vest, something like a cassock, with a sash round it, he did not look very unlike a minister; and as for his language I was interpreter.

But the seriousness of his behaviour to them, and the scruple he made of marrying the women because they were not baptized, and professed Christians, gave them an exceeding reverence for his person; and there was no need after that to inquire whether he was a clergyman or no.

Indeed I was afraid his scruple would have been carried so far as that he would not have married them at all: nay, notwithstanding all I was able to say to him, he resisted me, though modestly, yet very steadily; and at last refused absolutely to marry them, unless he had first talked with the men and the women too; and though at first I was a little backward to it, yet at last I agreed to it with a good will, perceiving the sincerity of his design.

When he came to them, he let them know that I had acquainted him with their circumstances, and with the present design; that he was very willing to perform that part of his function, and marry them as I had desired; but that before he could do it, he must take the liberty to talk with them. He told them that in the sight of all different men, and in the sense of the laws of society, they had lived all this while in an open adultery; and that it was true that nothing but the consenting to marry, or effectually separating them [page 439] from one another now, could put an end to it; but there was a difficulty in it too, with respect to the laws of Christian matrimony, which he was not fully satisfied about, viz. that of marrying one that is a professed Christian to a savage, an idolater, and a heathen, one that is not baptized; and yet that he did not see that there was time left for it to endeavour to persuade the women to be baptized, or to profess the name of Christ, whom they had, he doubted, heard nothing of, and without which they could not be baptized.

He told me he doubted they were but indifferent Christians themselves; that they had but little knowledge of God or his ways, and therefore he could not expect that they had said much to their wives on that head yet; but that unless they would promise him to use their endeavours with their wives to persuade them to become Christians, and would as well as they could instruct them in the knowledge and belief of God that made them, and to worship Jesus Christ that redeemed them, he could not marry them; for he would have no hand in joining Christians with savages; nor was it consistent with the principles of the Christian religion, and was indeed expressly forbidden in God's law.

They heard all this very attentively, and I delivered it very faithfully to them from his mouth, as near his own words as I could, only sometimes adding something of my own, to convince them how just it was, and how I was of his mind: and I always very faithfully distinguished between what I said from myself and what were the clergyman's words. They told me it was very true what the gentleman had said, that they were but very indifferent Christians themselves, and that they had never talked to their wives about religion.--"Lord, Sir," says Will Atkins, "how should we teach them religion? Why, we know nothing ourselves; and besides, Sir," said he, "should we go to talk to them of God, and Jesus Christ, and heaven and hell, it would be to make them laugh at us, and ask us what we believe ourselves? and if we should tell [page 440] them we believe all the things that we speak of to them, such as of good people going to heaven, and wicked people to the devil, they would ask us, where we intended to go ourselves who believe all this, and yet are such wicked fellows, as we indeed are: why, Sir," said Will, "'tis enough to give them a surfeit of religion, at that hearing: folks must have some religion themselves before they pretend to teach other people."--"Will Atkins," said I to him, "though I am afraid what you say has too much truth in it, yet can you not tell your wife that she is in the wrong; that there is a God, and a religion better than her own; that her gods are idols; that they can neither hear nor speak; that there is a great Being that made all things, and that can destroy all that he has made; that he rewards the good, and punishes the bad; that we are to be judged by him, at last, for all we do here? You are not so ignorant but even nature itself will teach you that all this is true; and I am satisfied you know it all to be true, and believe it yourself."

"That's true, Sir," said Atkins; "but with what face can I say any thing to my wife of all this, when she will tell me immediately it cannot be true?"

"Not true!" said I; "what do you mean by that?"--"Why, Sir," said he, "she will tell me it cannot be true: that this God (I shall tell her of) can be just, or can punish or reward, since I am not punished and sent to the devil, that have been such a wicked creature as she knows I have been, even to her, and to every body else; and that I should be suffered to live, that have been always acting so contrary to what I must tell her is good, and to what I ought to have done."