CHAPTER XII--A CAVE RETREAT
While this was doing, I was not altogether careless of my other affairs;for I had a great concern upon me for my little herd of goats: they werenot only a ready supply to me on every occasion, and began to besufficient for me, without the expense of powder and shot, but alsowithout the fatigue of hunting after the wild ones; and I was loath tolose the advantage of them, and to have them all to nurse up over again.
For this purpose, after long consideration, I could think of but two waysto preserve them: one was, to find another convenient place to dig a caveunderground, and to drive them into it every night; and the other was toenclose two or three little bits of land, remote from one another, and asmuch concealed as I could, where I might keep about half-a-dozen younggoats in each place; so that if any disaster happened to the flock ingeneral, I might be able to raise them again with little trouble andtime: and this though it would require a good deal of time and labour, Ithought was the most rational design.
Accordingly, I spent some time to find out the most retired parts of theisland; and I pitched upon one, which was as private, indeed, as my heartcould wish: it was a little damp piece of ground in the middle of thehollow and thick woods, where, as is observed, I almost lost myself oncebefore, endeavouring to come back that way from the eastern part of theisland. Here I found a clear piece of land, near three acres, sosurrounded with woods that it was almost an enclosure by nature; atleast, it did not want near so much labour to make it so as the otherpiece of ground I had worked so hard at.
I immediately went to work with this piece of ground; and in less than amonth's time I had so fenced it round that my flock, or herd, call itwhich you please, which were not so wild now as at first they might besupposed to be, were well enough secured in it: so, without any furtherdelay, I removed ten young she-goats and two he-goats to this piece, andwhen they were there I continued to perfect the fence till I had made itas secure as the other; which, however, I did at more leisure, and ittook me up more time by a great deal. All this labour I was at theexpense of, purely from my apprehensions on account of the print of aman's foot; for as yet I had never seen any human creature come near theisland; and I had now lived two years under this uneasiness, which,indeed, made my life much less comfortable than it was before, as may bewell imagined by any who know what it is to live in the constant snare ofthe fear of man. And this I must observe, with grief, too, that thediscomposure of my mind had great impression also upon the religious partof my thoughts; for the dread and terror of falling into the hands ofsavages and cannibals lay so upon my spirits, that I seldom found myselfin a due temper for application to my Maker; at least, not with thesedate calmness and resignation of soul which I was wont to do: I ratherprayed to God as under great affliction and pressure of mind, surroundedwith danger, and in expectation every night of being murdered anddevoured before morning; and I must testify, from my experience, that atemper of peace, thankfulness, love, and affection, is much the moreproper frame for prayer than that of terror and discomposure: and thatunder the dread of mischief impending, a man is no more fit for acomforting performance of the duty of praying to God than he is for arepentance on a sick-bed; for these discomposures affect the mind, as theothers do the body; and the discomposure of the mind must necessarily beas great a disability as that of the body, and much greater; praying toGod being properly an act of the mind, not of the body.
But to go on. After I had thus secured one part of my little livingstock, I went about the whole island, searching for another private placeto make such another deposit; when, wandering more to the west point ofthe island than I had ever done yet, and looking out to sea, I thought Isaw a boat upon the sea, at a great distance. I had found a perspectiveglass or two in one of the seamen's chests, which I saved out of ourship, but I had it not about me; and this was so remote that I could nottell what to make of it, though I looked at it till my eyes were not ableto hold to look any longer; whether it was a boat or not I do not know,but as I descended from the hill I could see no more of it, so I gave itover; only I resolved to go no more out without a perspective glass in mypocket. When I was come down the hill to the end of the island, where,indeed, I had never been before, I was presently convinced that theseeing the print of a man's foot was not such a strange thing in theisland as I imagined: and but that it was a special providence that I wascast upon the side of the island where the savages never came, I shouldeasily have known that nothing was more frequent than for the canoes fromthe main, when they happened to be a little too far out at sea, to shootover to that side of the island for harbour: likewise, as they often metand fought in their canoes, the victors, having taken any prisoners,would bring them over to this shore, where, according to their dreadfulcustoms, being all cannibals, they would kill and eat them; of whichhereafter.
When I was come down the hill to the shore, as I said above, being theSW. point of the island, I was perfectly confounded and amazed; nor is itpossible for me to express the horror of my mind at seeing the shorespread with skulls, hands, feet, and other bones of human bodies; andparticularly I observed a place where there had been a fire made, and acircle dug in the earth, like a cockpit, where I supposed the savagewretches had sat down to their human feastings upon the bodies of theirfellow-creatures.
I was so astonished with the sight of these things, that I entertained nonotions of any danger to myself from it for a long while: all myapprehensions were buried in the thoughts of such a pitch of inhuman,hellish brutality, and the horror of the degeneracy of human nature,which, though I had heard of it often, yet I never had so near a view ofbefore; in short, I turned away my face from the horrid spectacle; mystomach grew sick, and I was just at the point of fainting, when naturedischarged the disorder from my stomach; and having vomited with uncommonviolence, I was a little relieved, but could not bear to stay in theplace a moment; so I got up the hill again with all the speed I could,and walked on towards my own habitation.
When I came a little out of that part of the island I stood still awhile,as amazed, and then, recovering myself, I looked up with the utmostaffection of my soul, and, with a flood of tears in my eyes, gave Godthanks, that had cast my first lot in a part of the world where I wasdistinguished from such dreadful creatures as these; and that, though Ihad esteemed my present condition very miserable, had yet given me somany comforts in it that I had still more to give thanks for than tocomplain of: and this, above all, that I had, even in this miserablecondition, been comforted with the knowledge of Himself, and the hope ofHis blessing: which was a felicity more than sufficiently equivalent toall the misery which I had suffered, or could suffer.
In this frame of thankfulness I went home to my castle, and began to bemuch easier now, as to the safety of my circumstances, than ever I wasbefore: for I observed that these wretches never came to this island insearch of what they could get; perhaps not seeking, not wanting, or notexpecting anything here; and having often, no doubt, been up the covered,woody part of it without finding anything to their purpose. I knew I hadbeen here now almost eighteen years, and never saw the least footsteps ofhuman creature there before; and I might be eighteen years more asentirely concealed as I was now, if I did not discover myself to them,which I had no manner of occasion to do; it being my only business tokeep myself entirely concealed where I was, unless I found a better sortof creatures than cannibals to make myself known to. Yet I entertainedsuch an abhorrence of the savage wretches that I have been speaking of,and of the wretched, inhuman custom of their devouring and eating oneanother up, that I continued pensive and sad, and kept close within myown circle for almost two years after this: when I say my own circle, Imean by it my three plantations--viz. my castle, my country seat (which Icalled my bower), and my enclosure in the woods: nor did I look afterthis for any other use than an enclosure for my goats; for the aversionwhich nature gave me to these hellish wretches was such, that I was asfearful of seeing them as of seeing the devil himself. I did not so muchas go to look
after my boat all this time, but began rather to think ofmaking another; for I could not think of ever making any more attempts tobring the other boat round the island to me, lest I should meet with someof these creatures at sea; in which case, if I had happened to havefallen into their hands, I knew what would have been my lot.
Time, however, and the satisfaction I had that I was in no danger ofbeing discovered by these people, began to wear off my uneasiness aboutthem; and I began to live just in the same composed manner as before,only with this difference, that I used more caution, and kept my eyesmore about me than I did before, lest I should happen to be seen by anyof them; and particularly, I was more cautious of firing my gun, lest anyof them, being on the island, should happen to hear it. It was,therefore, a very good providence to me that I had furnished myself witha tame breed of goats, and that I had no need to hunt any more about thewoods, or shoot at them; and if I did catch any of them after this, itwas by traps and snares, as I had done before; so that for two yearsafter this I believe I never fired my gun once off, though I never wentout without it; and what was more, as I had saved three pistols out ofthe ship, I always carried them out with me, or at least two of them,sticking them in my goat-skin belt. I also furbished up one of the greatcutlasses that I had out of the ship, and made me a belt to hang it onalso; so that I was now a most formidable fellow to look at when I wentabroad, if you add to the former description of myself the particular oftwo pistols, and a broadsword hanging at my side in a belt, but without ascabbard.
Things going on thus, as I have said, for some time, I seemed, exceptingthese cautions, to be reduced to my former calm, sedate way of living.All these things tended to show me more and more how far my condition wasfrom being miserable, compared to some others; nay, to many otherparticulars of life which it might have pleased God to have made my lot.It put me upon reflecting how little repining there would be amongmankind at any condition of life if people would rather compare theircondition with those that were worse, in order to be thankful, than bealways comparing them with those which are better, to assist theirmurmurings and complainings.
As in my present condition there were not really many things which Iwanted, so indeed I thought that the frights I had been in about thesesavage wretches, and the concern I had been in for my own preservation,had taken off the edge of my invention, for my own conveniences; and Ihad dropped a good design, which I had once bent my thoughts upon, andthat was to try if I could not make some of my barley into malt, and thentry to brew myself some beer. This was really a whimsical thought, and Ireproved myself often for the simplicity of it: for I presently saw therewould be the want of several things necessary to the making my beer thatit would be impossible for me to supply; as, first, casks to preserve itin, which was a thing that, as I have observed already, I could nevercompass: no, though I spent not only many days, but weeks, nay months, inattempting it, but to no purpose. In the next place, I had no hops tomake it keep, no yeast to make it work, no copper or kettle to make itboil; and yet with all these things wanting, I verily believe, had notthe frights and terrors I was in about the savages intervened, I hadundertaken it, and perhaps brought it to pass too; for I seldom gaveanything over without accomplishing it, when once I had it in my head tobegan it. But my invention now ran quite another way; for night and dayI could think of nothing but how I might destroy some of the monsters intheir cruel, bloody entertainment, and if possible save the victim theyshould bring hither to destroy. It would take up a larger volume thanthis whole work is intended to be to set down all the contrivances Ihatched, or rather brooded upon, in my thoughts, for the destroying thesecreatures, or at least frightening them so as to prevent their cominghither any more: but all this was abortive; nothing could be possible totake effect, unless I was to be there to do it myself: and what could oneman do among them, when perhaps there might be twenty or thirty of themtogether with their darts, or their bows and arrows, with which theycould shoot as true to a mark as I could with my gun?
Sometimes I thought if digging a hole under the place where they madetheir fire, and putting in five or six pounds of gunpowder, which, whenthey kindled their fire, would consequently take fire, and blow up allthat was near it: but as, in the first place, I should be unwilling towaste so much powder upon them, my store being now within the quantity ofone barrel, so neither could I be sure of its going off at any certaintime, when it might surprise them; and, at best, that it would do littlemore than just blow the fire about their ears and fright them, but notsufficient to make them forsake the place: so I laid it aside; and thenproposed that I would place myself in ambush in some convenient place,with my three guns all double-loaded, and in the middle of their bloodyceremony let fly at them, when I should be sure to kill or wound perhapstwo or three at every shot; and then falling in upon them with my threepistols and my sword, I made no doubt but that, if there were twenty, Ishould kill them all. This fancy pleased my thoughts for some weeks, andI was so full of it that I often dreamed of it, and, sometimes, that Iwas just going to let fly at them in my sleep. I went so far with it inmy imagination that I employed myself several days to find out properplaces to put myself in ambuscade, as I said, to watch for them, and Iwent frequently to the place itself, which was now grown more familiar tome; but while my mind was thus filled with thoughts of revenge and abloody putting twenty or thirty of them to the sword, as I may call it,the horror I had at the place, and at the signals of the barbarouswretches devouring one another, abetted my malice. Well, at length Ifound a place in the side of the hill where I was satisfied I mightsecurely wait till I saw any of their boats coming; and might then, evenbefore they would be ready to come on shore, convey myself unseen intosome thickets of trees, in one of which there was a hollow large enoughto conceal me entirely; and there I might sit and observe all theirbloody doings, and take my full aim at their heads, when they were soclose together as that it would be next to impossible that I should missmy shot, or that I could fail wounding three or four of them at the firstshot. In this place, then, I resolved to fulfil my design; andaccordingly I prepared two muskets and my ordinary fowling-piece. Thetwo muskets I loaded with a brace of slugs each, and four or five smallerbullets, about the size of pistol bullets; and the fowling-piece I loadedwith near a handful of swan-shot of the largest size; I also loaded mypistols with about four bullets each; and, in this posture, well providedwith ammunition for a second and third charge, I prepared myself for myexpedition.
After I had thus laid the scheme of my design, and in my imagination putit in practice, I continually made my tour every morning to the top ofthe hill, which was from my castle, as I called it, about three miles ormore, to see if I could observe any boats upon the sea, coming near theisland, or standing over towards it; but I began to tire of this hardduty, after I had for two or three months constantly kept my watch, butcame always back without any discovery; there having not, in all thattime, been the least appearance, not only on or near the shore, but onthe whole ocean, so far as my eye or glass could reach every way.
As long as I kept my daily tour to the hill, to look out, so long also Ikept up the vigour of my design, and my spirits seemed to be all thewhile in a suitable frame for so outrageous an execution as the killingtwenty or thirty naked savages, for an offence which I had not at allentered into any discussion of in my thoughts, any farther than mypassions were at first fired by the horror I conceived at the unnaturalcustom of the people of that country, who, it seems, had been suffered byProvidence, in His wise disposition of the world, to have no other guidethan that of their own abominable and vitiated passions; and consequentlywere left, and perhaps had been so for some ages, to act such horridthings, and receive such dreadful customs, as nothing but nature,entirely abandoned by Heaven, and actuated by some hellish degeneracy,could have run them into. But now, when, as I have said, I began to beweary of the fruitless excursion which I had made so long and so farevery morning in vain, so my opinion of the action itself began to alter;and I began, w
ith cooler and calmer thoughts, to consider what I wasgoing to engage in; what authority or call I had to pretend to be judgeand executioner upon these men as criminals, whom Heaven had thought fitfor so many ages to suffer unpunished to go on, and to be as it were theexecutioners of His judgments one upon another; how far these people wereoffenders against me, and what right I had to engage in the quarrel ofthat blood which they shed promiscuously upon one another. I debatedthis very often with myself thus: "How do I know what God Himself judgesin this particular case? It is certain these people do not commit thisas a crime; it is not against their own consciences reproving, or theirlight reproaching them; they do not know it to be an offence, and thencommit it in defiance of divine justice, as we do in almost all the sinswe commit. They think it no more a crime to kill a captive taken in warthan we do to kill an ox; or to eat human flesh than we do to eatmutton."
When I considered this a little, it followed necessarily that I wascertainly in the wrong; that these people were not murderers, in thesense that I had before condemned them in my thoughts, any more thanthose Christians were murderers who often put to death the prisonerstaken in battle; or more frequently, upon many occasions, put wholetroops of men to the sword, without giving quarter, though they threwdown their arms and submitted. In the next place, it occurred to me thatalthough the usage they gave one another was thus brutish and inhuman,yet it was really nothing to me: these people had done me no injury: thatif they attempted, or I saw it necessary, for my immediate preservation,to fall upon them, something might be said for it: but that I was yet outof their power, and they really had no knowledge of me, and consequentlyno design upon me; and therefore it could not be just for me to fall uponthem; that this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all theirbarbarities practised in America, where they destroyed millions of thesepeople; who, however they were idolators and barbarians, and had severalbloody and barbarous rites in their customs, such as sacrificing humanbodies to their idols, were yet, as to the Spaniards, very innocentpeople; and that the rooting them out of the country is spoken of withthe utmost abhorrence and detestation by even the Spaniards themselves atthis time, and by all other Christian nations of Europe, as a merebutchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty, unjustifiable eitherto God or man; and for which the very name of a Spaniard is reckoned tobe frightful and terrible, to all people of humanity or of Christiancompassion; as if the kingdom of Spain were particularly eminent for theproduce of a race of men who were without principles of tenderness, orthe common bowels of pity to the miserable, which is reckoned to be amark of generous temper in the mind.
These considerations really put me to a pause, and to a kind of a fullstop; and I began by little and little to be off my design, and toconclude I had taken wrong measures in my resolution to attack thesavages; and that it was not my business to meddle with them, unless theyfirst attacked me; and this it was my business, if possible, to prevent:but that, if I were discovered and attacked by them, I knew my duty. Onthe other hand, I argued with myself that this really was the way not todeliver myself, but entirely to ruin and destroy myself; for unless I wassure to kill every one that not only should be on shore at that time, butthat should ever come on shore afterwards, if but one of them escaped totell their country-people what had happened, they would come over againby thousands to revenge the death of their fellows, and I should onlybring upon myself a certain destruction, which, at present, I had nomanner of occasion for. Upon the whole, I concluded that I ought,neither in principle nor in policy, one way or other, to concern myselfin this affair: that my business was, by all possible means to concealmyself from them, and not to leave the least sign for them to guess bythat there were any living creatures upon the island--I mean of humanshape. Religion joined in with this prudential resolution; and I wasconvinced now, many ways, that I was perfectly out of my duty when I waslaying all my bloody schemes for the destruction of innocent creatures--Imean innocent as to me. As to the crimes they were guilty of towards oneanother, I had nothing to do with them; they were national, and I oughtto leave them to the justice of God, who is the Governor of nations, andknows how, by national punishments, to make a just retribution fornational offences, and to bring public judgments upon those who offend ina public manner, by such ways as best please Him. This appeared so clearto me now, that nothing was a greater satisfaction to me than that I hadnot been suffered to do a thing which I now saw so much reason to believewould have been no less a sin than that of wilful murder if I hadcommitted it; and I gave most humble thanks on my knees to God, that Hehad thus delivered me from blood-guiltiness; beseeching Him to grant methe protection of His providence, that I might not fall into the hands ofthe barbarians, or that I might not lay my hands upon them, unless I hada more clear call from Heaven to do it, in defence of my own life.
In this disposition I continued for near a year after this; and so farwas I from desiring an occasion for falling upon these wretches, that inall that time I never once went up the hill to see whether there were anyof them in sight, or to know whether any of them had been on shore thereor not, that I might not be tempted to renew any of my contrivancesagainst them, or be provoked by any advantage that might present itselfto fall upon them; only this I did: I went and removed my boat, which Ihad on the other side of the island, and carried it down to the east endof the whole island, where I ran it into a little cove, which I foundunder some high rocks, and where I knew, by reason of the currents, thesavages durst not, at least would not, come with their boats upon anyaccount whatever. With my boat I carried away everything that I had leftthere belonging to her, though not necessary for the bare goingthither--viz. a mast and sail which I had made for her, and a thing likean anchor, but which, indeed, could not be called either anchor orgrapnel; however, it was the best I could make of its kind: all these Iremoved, that there might not be the least shadow for discovery, orappearance of any boat, or of any human habitation upon the island.Besides this, I kept myself, as I said, more retired than ever, andseldom went from my cell except upon my constant employment, to milk myshe-goats, and manage my little flock in the wood, which, as it was quiteon the other part of the island, was out of danger; for certain, it isthat these savage people, who sometimes haunted this island, never camewith any thoughts of finding anything here, and consequently neverwandered off from the coast, and I doubt not but they might have beenseveral times on shore after my apprehensions of them had made mecautious, as well as before. Indeed, I looked back with some horror uponthe thoughts of what my condition would have been if I had chopped uponthem and been discovered before that; when, naked and unarmed, exceptwith one gun, and that loaded often only with small shot, I walkedeverywhere, peeping and peering about the island, to see what I couldget; what a surprise should I have been in if, when I discovered theprint of a man's foot, I had, instead of that, seen fifteen or twentysavages, and found them pursuing me, and by the swiftness of theirrunning no possibility of my escaping them! The thoughts of thissometimes sank my very soul within me, and distressed my mind so muchthat I could not soon recover it, to think what I should have done, andhow I should not only have been unable to resist them, but even shouldnot have had presence of mind enough to do what I might have done; muchless what now, after so much consideration and preparation, I might beable to do. Indeed, after serious thinking of these things, I would bemelancholy, and sometimes it would last a great while; but I resolved itall at last into thankfulness to that Providence which had delivered mefrom so many unseen dangers, and had kept me from those mischiefs which Icould have no way been the agent in delivering myself from, because I hadnot the least notion of any such thing depending, or the leastsupposition of its being possible. This renewed a contemplation whichoften had come into my thoughts in former times, when first I began tosee the merciful dispositions of Heaven, in the dangers we run through inthis life; how wonderfully we are delivered when we know nothing of it;how, when we are in a quandary as we call it, a doubt or hesitationwhether to
go this way or that way, a secret hint shall direct us thisway, when we intended to go that way: nay, when sense, our owninclination, and perhaps business has called us to go the other way, yeta strange impression upon the mind, from we know not what springs, and bywe know not what power, shall overrule us to go this way; and it shallafterwards appear that had we gone that way, which we should have gone,and even to our imagination ought to have gone, we should have beenruined and lost. Upon these and many like reflections I afterwards madeit a certain rule with me, that whenever I found those secret hints orpressings of mind to doing or not doing anything that presented, or goingthis way or that way, I never failed to obey the secret dictate; though Iknew no other reason for it than such a pressure or such a hint hung uponmy mind. I could give many examples of the success of this conduct inthe course of my life, but more especially in the latter part of myinhabiting this unhappy island; besides many occasions which it is verylikely I might have taken notice of, if I had seen with the same eyesthen that I see with now. But it is never too late to be wise; and Icannot but advise all considering men, whose lives are attended with suchextraordinary incidents as mine, or even though not so extraordinary, notto slight such secret intimations of Providence, let them come from whatinvisible intelligence they will. That I shall not discuss, and perhapscannot account for; but certainly they are a proof of the converse ofspirits, and a secret communication between those embodied and thoseunembodied, and such a proof as can never be withstood; of which I shallhave occasion to give some remarkable instances in the remainder of mysolitary residence in this dismal place.
I believe the reader of this will not think it strange if I confess thatthese anxieties, these constant dangers I lived in, and the concern thatwas now upon me, put an end to all invention, and to all the contrivancesthat I had laid for my future accommodations and conveniences. I had thecare of my safety more now upon my hands than that of my food. I carednot to drive a nail, or chop a stick of wood now, for fear the noise Imight make should be heard: much less would I fire a gun for the samereason: and above all I was intolerably uneasy at making any fire, lestthe smoke, which is visible at a great distance in the day, should betrayme. For this reason, I removed that part of my business which requiredfire, such as burning of pots and pipes, &c., into my new apartment inthe woods; where, after I had been some time, I found, to my unspeakableconsolation, a mere natural cave in the earth, which went in a vast way,and where, I daresay, no savage, had he been at the mouth of it, would beso hardy as to venture in; nor, indeed, would any man else, but one who,like me, wanted nothing so much as a safe retreat.
The mouth of this hollow was at the bottom of a great rock, where, bymere accident (I would say, if I did not see abundant reason to ascribeall such things now to Providence), I was cutting down some thickbranches of trees to make charcoal; and before I go on I must observe thereason of my making this charcoal, which was this--I was afraid of makinga smoke about my habitation, as I said before; and yet I could not livethere without baking my bread, cooking my meat, &c.; so I contrived toburn some wood here, as I had seen done in England, under turf, till itbecame chark or dry coal: and then putting the fire out, I preserved thecoal to carry home, and perform the other services for which fire waswanting, without danger of smoke. But this is by-the-bye. While I wascutting down some wood here, I perceived that, behind a very thick branchof low brushwood or underwood, there was a kind of hollow place: I wascurious to look in it; and getting with difficulty into the mouth of it,I found it was pretty large, that is to say, sufficient for me to standupright in it, and perhaps another with me: but I must confess to youthat I made more haste out than I did in, when looking farther into theplace, and which was perfectly dark, I saw two broad shining eyes of somecreature, whether devil or man I knew not, which twinkled like two stars;the dim light from the cave's mouth shining directly in, and making thereflection. However, after some pause I recovered myself, and began tocall myself a thousand fools, and to think that he that was afraid to seethe devil was not fit to live twenty years in an island all alone; andthat I might well think there was nothing in this cave that was morefrightful than myself. Upon this, plucking up my courage, I took up afirebrand, and in I rushed again, with the stick flaming in my hand: Ihad not gone three steps in before I was almost as frightened as before;for I heard a very loud sigh, like that of a man in some pain, and it wasfollowed by a broken noise, as of words half expressed, and then a deepsigh again. I stepped back, and was indeed struck with such a surprisethat it put me into a cold sweat, and if I had had a hat on my head, Iwill not answer for it that my hair might not have lifted it off. Butstill plucking up my spirits as well as I could, and encouraging myself alittle with considering that the power and presence of God waseverywhere, and was able to protect me, I stepped forward again, and bythe light of the firebrand, holding it up a little over my head, I sawlying on the ground a monstrous, frightful old he-goat, just making hiswill, as we say, and gasping for life, and, dying, indeed, of mere oldage. I stirred him a little to see if I could get him out, and heessayed to get up, but was not able to raise himself; and I thought withmyself he might even lie there--for if he had frightened me, so he wouldcertainly fright any of the savages, if any of them should be so hardy asto come in there while he had any life in him.
I was now recovered from my surprise, and began to look round me, when Ifound the cave was but very small--that is to say, it might be abouttwelve feet over, but in no manner of shape, neither round nor square, nohands having ever been employed in making it but those of mere Nature. Iobserved also that there was a place at the farther side of it that wentin further, but was so low that it required me to creep upon my hands andknees to go into it, and whither it went I knew not; so, having nocandle, I gave it over for that time, but resolved to go again the nextday provided with candles and a tinder-box, which I had made of the lockof one of the muskets, with some wildfire in the pan.
Accordingly, the next day I came provided with six large candles of myown making (for I made very good candles now of goat's tallow, but washard set for candle-wick, using sometimes rags or rope-yarn, andsometimes the dried rind of a weed like nettles); and going into this lowplace I was obliged to creep upon all-fours as I have said, almost tenyards--which, by the way, I thought was a venture bold enough,considering that I knew not how far it might go, nor what was beyond it.When I had got through the strait, I found the roof rose higher up, Ibelieve near twenty feet; but never was such a glorious sight seen in theisland, I daresay, as it was to look round the sides and roof of thisvault or cave--the wall reflected a hundred thousand lights to me from mytwo candles. What it was in the rock--whether diamonds or any otherprecious stones, or gold which I rather supposed it to be--I knew not.The place I was in was a most delightful cavity, or grotto, thoughperfectly dark; the floor was dry and level, and had a sort of a smallloose gravel upon it, so that there was no nauseous or venomous creatureto be seen, neither was there any damp or wet on the sides or roof. Theonly difficulty in it was the entrance--which, however, as it was a placeof security, and such a retreat as I wanted; I thought was a convenience;so that I was really rejoiced at the discovery, and resolved, without anydelay, to bring some of those things which I was most anxious about tothis place: particularly, I resolved to bring hither my magazine ofpowder, and all my spare arms--viz. two fowling-pieces--for I had threein all--and three muskets--for of them I had eight in all; so I kept inmy castle only five, which stood ready mounted like pieces of cannon onmy outmost fence, and were ready also to take out upon any expedition.Upon this occasion of removing my ammunition I happened to open thebarrel of powder which I took up out of the sea, and which had been wet,and I found that the water had penetrated about three or four inches intothe powder on every side, which caking and growing hard, had preservedthe inside like a kernel in the shell, so that I had near sixty pounds ofvery good powder in the centre of the cask. This was a very agreeablediscovery to me at that time; so I carried all away t
hither, neverkeeping above two or three pounds of powder with me in my castle, forfear of a surprise of any kind; I also carried thither all the lead I hadleft for bullets.
I fancied myself now like one of the ancient giants who were said to livein caves and holes in the rocks, where none could come at them; for Ipersuaded myself, while I was here, that if five hundred savages were tohunt me, they could never find me out--or if they did, they would notventure to attack me here. The old goat whom I found expiring died inthe mouth of the cave the next day after I made this discovery; and Ifound it much easier to dig a great hole there, and throw him in andcover him with earth, than to drag him out; so I interred him there, toprevent offence to my nose.