CHAPTER XIX--RETURN TO ENGLAND
Having done all this I left them the next day, and went on board theship. We prepared immediately to sail, but did not weigh that night.The next morning early, two of the five men came swimming to the ship'sside, and making the most lamentable complaint of the other three, beggedto be taken into the ship for God's sake, for they should be murdered,and begged the captain to take them on board, though he hanged themimmediately. Upon this the captain pretended to have no power withoutme; but after some difficulty, and after their solemn promises ofamendment, they were taken on board, and were, some time after, soundlywhipped and pickled; after which they proved very honest and quietfellows.
Some time after this, the boat was ordered on shore, the tide being up,with the things promised to the men; to which the captain, at myintercession, caused their chests and clothes to be added, which theytook, and were very thankful for. I also encouraged them, by tellingthem that if it lay in my power to send any vessel to take them in, Iwould not forget them.
When I took leave of this island, I carried on board, for relics, thegreat goat-skin cap I had made, my umbrella, and one of my parrots; also,I forgot not to take the money I formerly mentioned, which had lain by meso long useless that it was grown rusty or tarnished, and could hardlypass for silver till it had been a little rubbed and handled, as also themoney I found in the wreck of the Spanish ship. And thus I left theisland, the 19th of December, as I found by the ship's account, in theyear 1686, after I had been upon it eight-and-twenty years, two months,and nineteen days; being delivered from this second captivity the sameday of the month that I first made my escape in the long-boat from amongthe Moors of Sallee. In this vessel, after a long voyage, I arrived inEngland the 11th of June, in the year 1687, having been thirty-five yearsabsent.
When I came to England I was as perfect a stranger to all the world as ifI had never been known there. My benefactor and faithful steward, whom Ihad left my money in trust with, was alive, but had had great misfortunesin the world; was become a widow the second time, and very low in theworld. I made her very easy as to what she owed me, assuring her I wouldgive her no trouble; but, on the contrary, in gratitude for her formercare and faithfulness to me, I relieved her as my little stock wouldafford; which at that time would, indeed, allow me to do but little forher; but I assured her I would never forget her former kindness to me;nor did I forget her when I had sufficient to help her, as shall beobserved in its proper place. I went down afterwards into Yorkshire; butmy father was dead, and my mother and all the family extinct, except thatI found two sisters, and two of the children of one of my brothers; andas I had been long ago given over for dead, there had been no provisionmade for me; so that, in a word, I found nothing to relieve or assist me;and that the little money I had would not do much for me as to settlingin the world.
I met with one piece of gratitude indeed, which I did not expect; andthis was, that the master of the ship, whom I had so happily delivered,and by the same means saved the ship and cargo, having given a veryhandsome account to the owners of the manner how I had saved the lives ofthe men and the ship, they invited me to meet them and some othermerchants concerned, and all together made me a very handsome complimentupon the subject, and a present of almost 200 pounds sterling.
But after making several reflections upon the circumstances of my life,and how little way this would go towards settling me in the world, Iresolved to go to Lisbon, and see if I might not come at some informationof the state of my plantation in the Brazils, and of what was become ofmy partner, who, I had reason to suppose, had some years past given meover for dead. With this view I took shipping for Lisbon, where Iarrived in April following, my man Friday accompanying me very honestlyin all these ramblings, and proving a most faithful servant upon alloccasions. When I came to Lisbon, I found out, by inquiry, and to myparticular satisfaction, my old friend, the captain of the ship who firsttook me up at sea off the shore of Africa. He was now grown old, and hadleft off going to sea, having put his son, who was far from a young man,into his ship, and who still used the Brazil trade. The old man did notknow me, and indeed I hardly knew him. But I soon brought him to myremembrance, and as soon brought myself to his remembrance, when I toldhim who I was.
After some passionate expressions of the old acquaintance between us, Iinquired, you may be sure, after my plantation and my partner. The oldman told me he had not been in the Brazils for about nine years; but thathe could assure me that when he came away my partner was living, but thetrustees whom I had joined with him to take cognisance of my part wereboth dead: that, however, he believed I would have a very good account ofthe improvement of the plantation; for that, upon the general belief ofmy being cast away and drowned, my trustees had given in the account ofthe produce of my part of the plantation to the procurator-fiscal, whohad appropriated it, in case I never came to claim it, one-third to theking, and two-thirds to the monastery of St. Augustine, to be expendedfor the benefit of the poor, and for the conversion of the Indians to theCatholic faith: but that, if I appeared, or any one for me, to claim theinheritance, it would be restored; only that the improvement, or annualproduction, being distributed to charitable uses, could not be restored:but he assured me that the steward of the king's revenue from lands, andthe providore, or steward of the monastery, had taken great care allalong that the incumbent, that is to say my partner, gave every year afaithful account of the produce, of which they had duly received mymoiety. I asked him if he knew to what height of improvement he hadbrought the plantation, and whether he thought it might be worth lookingafter; or whether, on my going thither, I should meet with anyobstruction to my possessing my just right in the moiety. He told me hecould not tell exactly to what degree the plantation was improved; butthis he knew, that my partner was grown exceeding rich upon the enjoyinghis part of it; and that, to the best of his remembrance, he had heardthat the king's third of my part, which was, it seems, granted away tosome other monastery or religious house, amounted to above two hundredmoidores a year: that as to my being restored to a quiet possession ofit, there was no question to be made of that, my partner being alive towitness my title, and my name being also enrolled in the register of thecountry; also he told me that the survivors of my two trustees were veryfair, honest people, and very wealthy; and he believed I would not onlyhave their assistance for putting me in possession, but would find a veryconsiderable sum of money in their hands for my account, being theproduce of the farm while their fathers held the trust, and before it wasgiven up, as above; which, as he remembered, was for about twelve years.
I showed myself a little concerned and uneasy at this account, andinquired of the old captain how it came to pass that the trustees shouldthus dispose of my effects, when he knew that I had made my will, and hadmade him, the Portuguese captain, my universal heir, &c.
He told me that was true; but that as there was no proof of my beingdead, he could not act as executor until some certain account should comeof my death; and, besides, he was not willing to intermeddle with a thingso remote: that it was true he had registered my will, and put in hisclaim; and could he have given any account of my being dead or alive, hewould have acted by procuration, and taken possession of the ingenio (sothey call the sugar-house), and have given his son, who was now at theBrazils, orders to do it. "But," says the old man, "I have one piece ofnews to tell you, which perhaps may not be so acceptable to you as therest; and that is, believing you were lost, and all the world believingso also, your partner and trustees did offer to account with me, in yourname, for the first six or eight years' profits, which I received. Therebeing at that time great disbursements for increasing the works, buildingan ingenio, and buying slaves, it did not amount to near so much asafterwards it produced; however," says the old man, "I shall give you atrue account of what I have received in all, and how I have disposed ofit."
After a few days' further conference with this ancient friend, he broughtme an account of the first six y
ears' income of my plantation, signed bymy partner and the merchant-trustees, being always delivered in goods,viz. tobacco in roll, and sugar in chests, besides rum, molasses, &c.,which is the consequence of a sugar-work; and I found by this account,that every year the income considerably increased; but, as above, thedisbursements being large, the sum at first was small: however, the oldman let me see that he was debtor to me four hundred and seventy moidoresof gold, besides sixty chests of sugar and fifteen double rolls oftobacco, which were lost in his ship; he having been shipwrecked cominghome to Lisbon, about eleven years after my having the place. The goodman then began to complain of his misfortunes, and how he had beenobliged to make use of my money to recover his losses, and buy him ashare in a new ship. "However, my old friend," says he, "you shall notwant a supply in your necessity; and as soon as my son returns you shallbe fully satisfied." Upon this he pulls out an old pouch, and gives meone hundred and sixty Portugal moidores in gold; and giving the writingsof his title to the ship, which his son was gone to the Brazils in, ofwhich he was quarter-part owner, and his son another, he puts them bothinto my hands for security of the rest.
I was too much moved with the honesty and kindness of the poor man to beable to bear this; and remembering what he had done for me, how he hadtaken me up at sea, and how generously he had used me on all occasions,and particularly how sincere a friend he was now to me, I could hardlyrefrain weeping at what he had said to me; therefore I asked him if hiscircumstances admitted him to spare so much money at that time, and if itwould not straiten him? He told me he could not say but it mightstraiten him a little; but, however, it was my money, and I might want itmore than he.
Everything the good man said was full of affection, and I could hardlyrefrain from tears while he spoke; in short, I took one hundred of themoidores, and called for a pen and ink to give him a receipt for them:then I returned him the rest, and told him if ever I had possession ofthe plantation I would return the other to him also (as, indeed, Iafterwards did); and that as to the bill of sale of his part in his son'sship, I would not take it by any means; but that if I wanted the money, Ifound he was honest enough to pay me; and if I did not, but came toreceive what he gave me reason to expect, I would never have a penny morefrom him.
When this was past, the old man asked me if he should put me into amethod to make my claim to my plantation. I told him I thought to goover to it myself. He said I might do so if I pleased, but that if I didnot, there were ways enough to secure my right, and immediately toappropriate the profits to my use: and as there were ships in the riverof Lisbon just ready to go away to Brazil, he made me enter my name in apublic register, with his affidavit, affirming, upon oath, that I wasalive, and that I was the same person who took up the land for theplanting the said plantation at first. This being regularly attested bya notary, and a procuration affixed, he directed me to send it, with aletter of his writing, to a merchant of his acquaintance at the place;and then proposed my staying with him till an account came of the return.
Never was anything more honourable than the proceedings upon thisprocuration; for in less than seven months I received a large packet fromthe survivors of my trustees, the merchants, for whose account I went tosea, in which were the following, particular letters and papersenclosed:--
First, there was the account-current of the produce of my farm orplantation, from the year when their fathers had balanced with my oldPortugal captain, being for six years; the balance appeared to be onethousand one hundred and seventy-four moidores in my favour.
Secondly, there was the account of four years more, while they kept theeffects in their hands, before the government claimed the administration,as being the effects of a person not to be found, which they called civildeath; and the balance of this, the value of the plantation increasing,amounted to nineteen thousand four hundred and forty-six crusadoes, beingabout three thousand two hundred and forty moidores.
Thirdly, there was the Prior of St. Augustine's account, who had receivedthe profits for above fourteen years; but not being able to account forwhat was disposed of by the hospital, very honestly declared he had eighthundred and seventy-two moidores not distributed, which he acknowledgedto my account: as to the king's part, that refunded nothing.
There was a letter of my partner's, congratulating me very affectionatelyupon my being alive, giving me an account how the estate was improved,and what it produced a year; with the particulars of the number ofsquares, or acres that it contained, how planted, how many slaves therewere upon it: and making two-and-twenty crosses for blessings, told me hehad said so many _Ave Marias_ to thank the Blessed Virgin that I wasalive; inviting me very passionately to come over and take possession ofmy own, and in the meantime to give him orders to whom he should delivermy effects if I did not come myself; concluding with a hearty tender ofhis friendship, and that of his family; and sent me as a present sevenfine leopards' skins, which he had, it seems, received from Africa, bysome other ship that he had sent thither, and which, it seems, had made abetter voyage than I. He sent me also five chests of excellentsweetmeats, and a hundred pieces of gold uncoined, not quite so large asmoidores. By the same fleet my two merchant-trustees shipped me onethousand two hundred chests of sugar, eight hundred rolls of tobacco, andthe rest of the whole account in gold.
I might well say now, indeed, that the latter end of Job was better thanthe beginning.
It is impossible to express the flutterings of my veryheart when I found all my wealth about me; for as the Brazil ships comeall in fleets, the same ships which brought my letters brought my goods:and the effects were safe in the river before the letters came to myhand. In a word, I turned pale, and grew sick; and, had not the old manrun and fetched me a cordial, I believe the sudden surprise of joy hadoverset nature, and I had died upon the spot: nay, after that I continuedvery ill, and was so some hours, till a physician being sent for, andsomething of the real cause of my illness being known, he ordered me tobe let blood; after which I had relief, and grew well: but I verilybelieve, if I had not been eased by a vent given in that manner to thespirits, I should have died.
I was now master, all on a sudden, of above five thousand pounds sterlingin money, and had an estate, as I might well call it, in the Brazils, ofabove a thousand pounds a year, as sure as an estate of lands in England:and, in a word, I was in a condition which I scarce knew how tounderstand, or how to compose myself for the enjoyment of it. The firstthing I did was to recompense my original benefactor, my good oldcaptain, who had been first charitable to me in my distress, kind to mein my beginning, and honest to me at the end. I showed him all that wassent to me; I told him that, next to the providence of Heaven, whichdisposed all things, it was owing to him; and that it now lay on me toreward him, which I would do a hundred-fold: so I first returned to himthe hundred moidores I had received of him; then I sent for a notary, andcaused him to draw up a general release or discharge from the fourhundred and seventy moidores, which he had acknowledged he owed me, inthe fullest and firmest manner possible. After which I caused aprocuration to be drawn, empowering him to be the receiver of the annualprofits of my plantation: and appointing my partner to account with him,and make the returns, by the usual fleets, to him in my name; and by aclause in the end, made a grant of one hundred moidores a year to himduring his life, out of the effects, and fifty moidores a year to his sonafter him, for his life: and thus I requited my old man.
I had now to consider which way to steer my course next, and what to dowith the estate that Providence had thus put into my hands; and, indeed,I had more care upon my head now than I had in my state of life in theisland where I wanted nothing but what I had, and had nothing but what Iwanted; whereas I had now a great charge upon me, and my business was howto secure it. I had not a cave now to hide my money in, or a place whereit might lie without lock or key, till it grew mouldy and tarnishedbefore anybody would meddle with it; on the contrary, I knew not where toput it, or whom to trust with it. My old patron, the captain, i
ndeed,was honest, and that was the only refuge I had. In the next place, myinterest in the Brazils seemed to summon me thither; but now I could nottell how to think of going thither till I had settled my affairs, andleft my effects in some safe hands behind me. At first I thought of myold friend the widow, who I knew was honest, and would be just to me; butthen she was in years, and but poor, and, for aught I knew, might be indebt: so that, in a word, I had no way but to go back to England myselfand take my effects with me.
It was some months, however, before I resolved upon this; and, therefore,as I had rewarded the old captain fully, and to his satisfaction, who hadbeen my former benefactor, so I began to think of the poor widow, whosehusband had been my first benefactor, and she, while it was in her power,my faithful steward and instructor. So, the first thing I did, I got amerchant in Lisbon to write to his correspondent in London, not only topay a bill, but to go find her out, and carry her, in money, a hundredpounds from me, and to talk with her, and comfort her in her poverty, bytelling her she should, if I lived, have a further supply: at the sametime I sent my two sisters in the country a hundred pounds each, theybeing, though not in want, yet not in very good circumstances; one havingbeen married and left a widow; and the other having a husband not so kindto her as he should be. But among all my relations or acquaintances Icould not yet pitch upon one to whom I durst commit the gross of mystock, that I might go away to the Brazils, and leave things safe behindme; and this greatly perplexed me.
I had once a mind to have gone to the Brazils and have settled myselfthere, for I was, as it were, naturalised to the place; but I had somelittle scruple in my mind about religion, which insensibly drew me back.However, it was not religion that kept me from going there for thepresent; and as I had made no scruple of being openly of the religion ofthe country all the while I was among them, so neither did I yet; onlythat, now and then, having of late thought more of it than formerly, whenI began to think of living and dying among them, I began to regret havingprofessed myself a Papist, and thought it might not be the best religionto die with.
But, as I have said, this was not the main thing that kept me from goingto the Brazils, but that really I did not know with whom to leave myeffects behind me; so I resolved at last to go to England, where, if Iarrived, I concluded that I should make some acquaintance, or find somerelations, that would be faithful to me; and, accordingly, I prepared togo to England with all my wealth.
In order to prepare things for my going home, I first (the Brazil fleetbeing just going away) resolved to give answers suitable to the just andfaithful account of things I had from thence; and, first, to the Prior ofSt. Augustine I wrote a letter full of thanks for his just dealings, andthe offer of the eight hundred and seventy-two moidores which wereundisposed of, which I desired might be given, five hundred to themonastery, and three hundred and seventy-two to the poor, as the priorshould direct; desiring the good padre's prayers for me, and the like. Iwrote next a letter of thanks to my two trustees, with all theacknowledgment that so much justice and honesty called for: as forsending them any present, they were far above having any occasion of it.Lastly, I wrote to my partner, acknowledging his industry in theimproving the plantation, and his integrity in increasing the stock ofthe works; giving him instructions for his future government of my part,according to the powers I had left with my old patron, to whom I desiredhim to send whatever became due to me, till he should hear from me moreparticularly; assuring him that it was my intention not only to come tohim, but to settle myself there for the remainder of my life. To this Iadded a very handsome present of some Italian silks for his wife and twodaughters, for such the captain's son informed me he had; with two piecesof fine English broadcloth, the best I could get in Lisbon, five piecesof black baize, and some Flanders lace of a good value.
Having thus settled my affairs, sold my cargo, and turned all my effectsinto good bills of exchange, my next difficulty was which way to go toEngland: I had been accustomed enough to the sea, and yet I had a strangeaversion to go to England by the sea at that time, and yet I could giveno reason for it, yet the difficulty increased upon me so much, thatthough I had once shipped my baggage in order to go, yet I altered mymind, and that not once but two or three times.
It is true I had been very unfortunate by sea, and this might be one ofthe reasons; but let no man slight the strong impulses of his ownthoughts in cases of such moment: two of the ships which I had singledout to go in, I mean more particularly singled out than any other, havingput my things on board one of them, and in the other having agreed withthe captain; I say two of these ships miscarried. One was taken by theAlgerines, and the other was lost on the Start, near Torbay, and all thepeople drowned except three; so that in either of those vessels I hadbeen made miserable.
Having been thus harassed in my thoughts, my old pilot, to whom Icommunicated everything, pressed me earnestly not to go by sea, buteither to go by land to the Groyne, and cross over the Bay of Biscay toRochelle, from whence it was but an easy and safe journey by land toParis, and so to Calais and Dover; or to go up to Madrid, and so all theway by land through France. In a word, I was so prepossessed against mygoing by sea at all, except from Calais to Dover, that I resolved totravel all the way by land; which, as I was not in haste, and did notvalue the charge, was by much the pleasanter way: and to make it more so,my old captain brought an English gentleman, the son of a merchant inLisbon, who was willing to travel with me; after which we picked up twomore English merchants also, and two young Portuguese gentlemen, the lastgoing to Paris only; so that in all there were six of us and fiveservants; the two merchants and the two Portuguese, contenting themselveswith one servant between two, to save the charge; and as for me, I got anEnglish sailor to travel with me as a servant, besides my man Friday, whowas too much a stranger to be capable of supplying the place of a servanton the road.
In this manner I set out from Lisbon; and our company being very wellmounted and armed, we made a little troop, whereof they did me the honourto call me captain, as well because I was the oldest man, as because Ihad two servants, and, indeed, was the origin of the whole journey.
As I have troubled you with none of my sea journals, so I shall troubleyou now with none of my land journals; but some adventures that happenedto us in this tedious and difficult journey I must not omit.
When we came to Madrid, we, being all of us strangers to Spain, werewilling to stay some time to see the court of Spain, and what was worthobserving; but it being the latter part of the summer, we hastened away,and set out from Madrid about the middle of October; but when we came tothe edge of Navarre, we were alarmed, at several towns on the way, withan account that so much snow was falling on the French side of themountains, that several travellers were obliged to come back toPampeluna, after having attempted at an extreme hazard to pass on.
When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me, thathad been always used to a hot climate, and to countries where I couldscarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable; nor, indeed, wasit more painful than surprising to come but ten days before out of OldCastile, where the weather was not only warm but very hot, andimmediately to feel a wind from the Pyrenean Mountains so very keen, soseverely cold, as to be intolerable and to endanger benumbing andperishing of our fingers and toes.
Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw the mountains all coveredwith snow, and felt cold weather, which he had never seen or felt beforein his life. To mend the matter, when we came to Pampeluna it continuedsnowing with so much violence and so long, that the people said winterwas come before its time; and the roads, which were difficult before,were now quite impassable; for, in a word, the snow lay in some placestoo thick for us to travel, and being not hard frozen, as is the case inthe northern countries, there was no going without being in danger ofbeing buried alive every step. We stayed no less than twenty days atPampeluna; when (seeing the winter coming on, and no likelihood of itsbeing better, for it was the severest winter all over Euro
pe that hadbeen known in the memory of man) I proposed that we should go away toFontarabia, and there take shipping for Bordeaux, which was a very littlevoyage. But, while I was considering this, there came in four Frenchgentlemen, who, having been stopped on the French side of the passes, aswe were on the Spanish, had found out a guide, who, traversing thecountry near the head of Languedoc, had brought them over the mountainsby such ways that they were not much incommoded with the snow; for wherethey met with snow in any quantity, they said it was frozen hard enoughto bear them and their horses. We sent for this guide, who told us hewould undertake to carry us the same way, with no hazard from the snow,provided we were armed sufficiently to protect ourselves from wildbeasts; for, he said, in these great snows it was frequent for somewolves to show themselves at the foot of the mountains, being maderavenous for want of food, the ground being covered with snow. We toldhim we were well enough prepared for such creatures as they were, if hewould insure us from a kind of two-legged wolves, which we were told wewere in most danger from, especially on the French side of the mountains.He satisfied us that there was no danger of that kind in the way that wewere to go; so we readily agreed to follow him, as did also twelve othergentlemen with their servants, some French, some Spanish, who, as I said,had attempted to go, and were obliged to come back again.
Accordingly, we set out from Pampeluna with our guide on the 15th ofNovember; and indeed I was surprised when, instead of going forward, hecame directly back with us on the same road that we came from Madrid,about twenty miles; when, having passed two rivers, and come into theplain country, we found ourselves in a warm climate again, where thecountry was pleasant, and no snow to be seen; but, on a sudden, turningto his left, he approached the mountains another way; and though it istrue the hills and precipices looked dreadful, yet he made so many tours,such meanders, and led us by such winding ways, that we insensibly passedthe height of the mountains without being much encumbered with the snow;and all on a sudden he showed us the pleasant and fruitful provinces ofLanguedoc and Gascony, all green and flourishing, though at a greatdistance, and we had some rough way to pass still.
We were a little uneasy, however, when we found it snowed one whole dayand a night so fast that we could not travel; but he bid us be easy; weshould soon be past it all: we found, indeed, that we began to descendevery day, and to come more north than before; and so, depending upon ourguide, we went on.
It was about two hours before night when, our guide being somethingbefore us, and not just in sight, out rushed three monstrous wolves, andafter them a bear, from a hollow way adjoining to a thick wood; two ofthe wolves made at the guide, and had he been far before us, he wouldhave been devoured before we could have helped him; one of them fastenedupon his horse, and the other attacked the man with such violence, thathe had not time, or presence of mind enough, to draw his pistol, buthallooed and cried out to us most lustily. My man Friday being next me,I bade him ride up and see what was the matter. As soon as Friday camein sight of the man, he hallooed out as loud as the other, "O master! Omaster!" but like a bold fellow, rode directly up to the poor man, andwith his pistol shot the wolf in the head that attacked him.
It was happy for the poor man that it was my man Friday; for, having beenused to such creatures in his country, he had no fear upon him, but wentclose up to him and shot him; whereas, any other of us would have firedat a farther distance, and have perhaps either missed the wolf orendangered shooting the man.
But it was enough to have terrified a bolder man than I; and, indeed, italarmed all our company, when, with the noise of Friday's pistol, weheard on both sides the most dismal howling of wolves; and the noise,redoubled by the echo of the mountains, appeared to us as if there hadbeen a prodigious number of them; and perhaps there was not such a few asthat we had no cause of apprehension: however, as Friday had killed thiswolf, the other that had fastened upon the horse left him immediately,and fled, without doing him any damage, having happily fastened upon hishead, where the bosses of the bridle had stuck in his teeth. But the manwas most hurt; for the raging creature had bit him twice, once in thearm, and the other time a little above his knee; and though he had madesome defence, he was just tumbling down by the disorder of his horse,when Friday came up and shot the wolf.
It is easy to suppose that at the noise of Friday's pistol we all mendedour pace, and rode up as fast as the way, which was very difficult, wouldgive us leave, to see what was the matter. As soon as we came clear ofthe trees, which blinded us before, we saw clearly what had been thecase, and how Friday had disengaged the poor guide, though we did notpresently discern what kind of creature it was he had killed.