The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

first might run away with the ship, yet it was not true that they

  had turned pirates; and that, in particular, these were not the men

  that first went off with the ship, but innocently bought her for

  their trade; and I am persuaded they will so far believe me as at

  least to act more cautiously for the time to come."

  In about thirteen days' sail we came to an anchor, at the south-

  west point of the great Gulf of Nankin; where I learned by accident

  that two Dutch ships were gone the length before me, and that I

  should certainly fall into their hands. I consulted my partner

  again in this exigency, and he was as much at a loss as I was. I

  then asked the old pilot if there was no creek or harbour which I

  might put into and pursue my business with the Chinese privately,

  and be in no danger of the enemy. He told me if I would sail to

  the southward about forty-two leagues, there was a little port

  called Quinchang, where the fathers of the mission usually landed

  from Macao, on their progress to teach the Christian religion to

  the Chinese, and where no European ships ever put in; and if I

  thought to put in there, I might consider what further course to

  take when I was on shore. He confessed, he said, it was not a

  place for merchants, except that at some certain times they had a

  kind of a fair there, when the merchants from Japan came over

  thither to buy Chinese merchandises. The name of the port I may

  perhaps spell wrong, having lost this, together with the names of

  many other places set down in a little pocket-book, which was

  spoiled by the water by an accident; but this I remember, that the

  Chinese merchants we corresponded with called it by a different

  name from that which our Portuguese pilot gave it, who pronounced

  it Quinchang. As we were unanimous in our resolution to go to this

  place, we weighed the next day, having only gone twice on shore

  where we were, to get fresh water; on both which occasions the

  people of the country were very civil, and brought abundance of

  provisions to sell to us; but nothing without money.

  We did not come to the other port (the wind being contrary) for

  five days; but it was very much to our satisfaction, and I was

  thankful when I set my foot on shore, resolving, and my partner

  too, that if it was possible to dispose of ourselves and effects

  any other way, though not profitably, we would never more set foot

  on board that unhappy vessel. Indeed, I must acknowledge, that of

  all the circumstances of life that ever I had any experience of,

  nothing makes mankind so completely miserable as that of being in

  constant fear. Well does the Scripture say, "The fear of man

  brings a snare"; it is a life of death, and the mind is so entirely

  oppressed by it, that it is capable of no relief.

  Nor did it fail of its usual operations upon the fancy, by

  heightening every danger; representing the English and Dutch

  captains to be men incapable of hearing reason, or of

  distinguishing between honest men and rogues; or between a story

  calculated for our own turn, made out of nothing, on purpose to

  deceive, and a true, genuine account of our whole voyage, progress,

  and design; for we might many ways have convinced any reasonable

  creatures that we were not pirates; the goods we had on board, the

  course we steered, our frankly showing ourselves, and entering into

  such and such ports; and even our very manner, the force we had,

  the number of men, the few arms, the little ammunition, short

  provisions; all these would have served to convince any men that we

  were no pirates. The opium and other goods we had on board would

  make it appear the ship had been at Bengal. The Dutchmen, who, it

  was said, had the names of all the men that were in the ship, might

  easily see that we were a mixture of English, Portuguese, and

  Indians, and but two Dutchmen on board. These, and many other

  particular circumstances, might have made it evident to the

  understanding of any commander, whose hands we might fall into,

  that we were no pirates.

  But fear, that blind, useless passion, worked another way, and

  threw us into the vapours; it bewildered our understandings, and

  set the imagination at work to form a thousand terrible things that

  perhaps might never happen. We first supposed, as indeed everybody

  had related to us, that the seamen on board the English and Dutch

  ships, but especially the Dutch, were so enraged at the name of a

  pirate, and especially at our beating off their boats and escaping,

  that they would not give themselves leave to inquire whether we

  were pirates or no, but would execute us off-hand, without giving

  us any room for a defence. We reflected that there really was so

  much apparent evidence before them, that they would scarce inquire

  after any more; as, first, that the ship was certainly the same,

  and that some of the seamen among them knew her, and had been on

  board her; and, secondly, that when we had intelligence at the

  river of Cambodia that they were coming down to examine us, we

  fought their boats and fled. Therefore we made no doubt but they

  were as fully satisfied of our being pirates as we were satisfied

  of the contrary; and, as I often said, I know not but I should have

  been apt to have taken those circumstances for evidence, if the

  tables were turned, and my case was theirs; and have made no

  scruple of cutting all the crew to pieces, without believing, or

  perhaps considering, what they might have to offer in their

  defence.

  But let that be how it will, these were our apprehensions; and both

  my partner and I scarce slept a night without dreaming of halters

  and yard-arms; of fighting, and being taken; of killing, and being

  killed: and one night I was in such a fury in my dream, fancying

  the Dutchmen had boarded us, and I was knocking one of their seamen

  down, that I struck my doubled fist against the side of the cabin I

  lay in with such a force as wounded my hand grievously, broke my

  knuckles, and cut and bruised the flesh, so that it awaked me out

  of my sleep. Another apprehension I had was, the cruel usage we

  might meet with from them if we fell into their hands; then the

  story of Amboyna came into my head, and how the Dutch might perhaps

  torture us, as they did our countrymen there, and make some of our

  men, by extremity of torture, confess to crimes they never were

  guilty of, or own themselves and all of us to be pirates, and so

  they would put us to death with a formal appearance of justice; and

  that they might be tempted to do this for the gain of our ship and

  cargo, worth altogether four or five thousand pounds. We did not

  consider that the captains of ships have no authority to act thus;

  and if we had surrendered prisoners to them, they could not answer

  the destroying us, or torturing us, but would be accountable for it

  when they came to their country. However, if they were to act thus

  with us, what advantage would it be to us that they should be

  called to an account for it?--or if we were firs
t to be murdered,

  what satisfaction would it be to us to have them punished when they

  came home?

  I cannot refrain taking notice here what reflections I now had upon

  the vast variety of my particular circumstances; how hard I thought

  it that I, who had spent forty years in a life of continual

  difficulties, and was at last come, as it were, to the port or

  haven which all men drive at, viz. to have rest and plenty, should

  be a volunteer in new sorrows by my own unhappy choice, and that I,

  who had escaped so many dangers in my youth, should now come to be

  hanged in my old age, and in so remote a place, for a crime which I

  was not in the least inclined to, much less guilty of. After these

  thoughts something of religion would come in; and I would be

  considering that this seemed to me to be a disposition of immediate

  Providence, and I ought to look upon it and submit to it as such.

  For, although I was innocent as to men, I was far from being

  innocent as to my Maker; and I ought to look in and examine what

  other crimes in my life were most obvious to me, and for which

  Providence might justly inflict this punishment as a retribution;

  and thus I ought to submit to this, just as I would to a shipwreck,

  if it had pleased God to have brought such a disaster upon me.

  In its turn natural courage would sometimes take its place, and

  then I would be talking myself up to vigorous resolutions; that I

  would not be taken to be barbarously used by a parcel of merciless

  wretches in cold blood; that it were much better to have fallen

  into the hands of the savages, though I were sure they would feast

  upon me when they had taken me, than those who would perhaps glut

  their rage upon me by inhuman tortures and barbarities; that in the

  case of the savages, I always resolved to die fighting to the last

  gasp, and why should I not do so now? Whenever these thoughts

  prevailed, I was sure to put myself into a kind of fever with the

  agitation of a supposed fight; my blood would boil, and my eyes

  sparkle, as if I was engaged, and I always resolved to take no

  quarter at their hands; but even at last, if I could resist no

  longer, I would blow up the ship and all that was in her, and leave

  them but little booty to boast of.

  CHAPTER XIII--ARRIVAL IN CHINA

  The greater weight the anxieties and perplexities of these things

  were to our thoughts while we were at sea, the greater was our

  satisfaction when we saw ourselves on shore; and my partner told me

  he dreamed that he had a very heavy load upon his back, which he

  was to carry up a hill, and found that he was not able to stand

  longer under it; but that the Portuguese pilot came and took it off

  his back, and the hill disappeared, the ground before him appearing

  all smooth and plain: and truly it was so; they were all like men

  who had a load taken off their backs. For my part I had a weight

  taken off from my heart that it was not able any longer to bear;

  and as I said above we resolved to go no more to sea in that ship.

  When we came on shore, the old pilot, who was now our friend, got

  us a lodging, together with a warehouse for our goods; it was a

  little hut, with a larger house adjoining to it, built and also

  palisadoed round with canes, to keep out pilferers, of which there

  were not a few in that country: however, the magistrates allowed

  us a little guard, and we had a soldier with a kind of half-pike,

  who stood sentinel at our door, to whom we allowed a pint of rice

  and a piece of money about the value of three-pence per day, so

  that our goods were kept very safe.

  The fair or mart usually kept at this place had been over some

  time; however, we found that there were three or four junks in the

  river, and two ships from Japan, with goods which they had bought

  in China, and were not gone away, having some Japanese merchants on

  shore.

  The first thing our old Portuguese pilot did for us was to get us

  acquainted with three missionary Romish priests who were in the

  town, and who had been there some time converting the people to

  Christianity; but we thought they made but poor work of it, and

  made them but sorry Christians when they had done. One of these

  was a Frenchman, whom they called Father Simon; another was a

  Portuguese; and a third a Genoese. Father Simon was courteous, and

  very agreeable company; but the other two were more reserved,

  seemed rigid and austere, and applied seriously to the work they

  came about, viz. to talk with and insinuate themselves among the

  inhabitants wherever they had opportunity. We often ate and drank

  with those men; and though I must confess the conversion, as they

  call it, of the Chinese to Christianity is so far from the true

  conversion required to bring heathen people to the faith of Christ,

  that it seems to amount to little more than letting them know the

  name of Christ, and say some prayers to the Virgin Mary and her

  Son, in a tongue which they understood not, and to cross

  themselves, and the like; yet it must be confessed that the

  religionists, whom we call missionaries, have a firm belief that

  these people will be saved, and that they are the instruments of

  it; and on this account they undergo not only the fatigue of the

  voyage, and the hazards of living in such places, but oftentimes

  death itself, and the most violent tortures, for the sake of this

  work.

  Father Simon was appointed, it seems, by order of the chief of the

  mission, to go up to Pekin, and waited only for another priest, who

  was ordered to come to him from Macao, to go along with him. We

  scarce ever met together but he was inviting me to go that journey;

  telling me how he would show me all the glorious things of that

  mighty empire, and, among the rest, Pekin, the greatest city in the

  world: "A city," said he, "that your London and our Paris put

  together cannot be equal to." But as I looked on those things with

  different eyes from other men, so I shall give my opinion of them

  in a few words, when I come in the course of my travels to speak

  more particularly of them.

  Dining with Father Simon one day, and being very merry together, I

  showed some little inclination to go with him; and he pressed me

  and my partner very hard to consent. "Why, father," says my

  partner, "should you desire our company so much? you know we are

  heretics, and you do not love us, nor cannot keep us company with

  any pleasure."--"Oh," says he, "you may perhaps be good Catholics

  in time; my business here is to convert heathens, and who knows but

  I may convert you too?"--"Very well, father," said I, "so you will

  preach to us all the way?"--"I will not be troublesome to you,"

  says he; "our religion does not divest us of good manners; besides,

  we are here like countrymen; and so we are, compared to the place

  we are in; and if you are Huguenots, and I a Catholic, we may all

  be Christians at last; at least, we are all gentlemen, and we may

  converse so, without being uneasy to one another." I liked thi
s

  part of his discourse very well, and it began to put me in mind of

  my priest that I had left in the Brazils; but Father Simon did not

  come up to his character by a great deal; for though this friar had

  no appearance of a criminal levity in him, yet he had not that fund

  of Christian zeal, strict piety, and sincere affection to religion

  that my other good ecclesiastic had.

  But to leave him a little, though he never left us, nor solicited

  us to go with him; we had something else before us at first, for we

  had all this while our ship and our merchandise to dispose of, and

  we began to be very doubtful what we should do, for we were now in

  a place of very little business. Once I was about to venture to

  sail for the river of Kilam, and the city of Nankin; but Providence

  seemed now more visibly, as I thought, than ever to concern itself

  in our affairs; and I was encouraged, from this very time, to think

  I should, one way or other, get out of this entangled circumstance,

  and be brought home to my own country again, though I had not the

  least view of the manner. Providence, I say, began here to clear

  up our way a little; and the first thing that offered was, that our

  old Portuguese pilot brought a Japan merchant to us, who inquired

  what goods we had: and, in the first place, he bought all our

  opium, and gave us a very good price for it, paying us in gold by

  weight, some in small pieces of their own coin, and some in small

  wedges, of about ten or twelves ounces each. While we were dealing

  with him for our opium, it came into my head that he might perhaps

  deal for the ship too, and I ordered the interpreter to propose it

  to him. He shrunk up his shoulders at it when it was first

  proposed to him; but in a few days after he came to me, with one of

  the missionary priests for his interpreter, and told me he had a

  proposal to make to me, which was this: he had bought a great

  quantity of our goods, when he had no thoughts of proposals made to

  him of buying the ship; and that, therefore, he had not money to

  pay for the ship: but if I would let the same men who were in the

  ship navigate her, he would hire the ship to go to Japan; and would

  send them from thence to the Philippine Islands with another

  loading, which he would pay the freight of before they went from

  Japan: and that at their return he would buy the ship. I began to

  listen to his proposal, and so eager did my head still run upon

  rambling, that I could not but begin to entertain a notion of going

  myself with him, and so to set sail from the Philippine Islands

  away to the South Seas; accordingly, I asked the Japanese merchant

  if he would not hire us to the Philippine Islands and discharge us

  there. He said No, he could not do that, for then he could not

  have the return of his cargo; but he would discharge us in Japan,

  at the ship's return. Well, still I was for taking him at that

  proposal, and going myself; but my partner, wiser than myself,

  persuaded me from it, representing the dangers, as well of the seas

  as of the Japanese, who are a false, cruel, and treacherous people;

  likewise those of the Spaniards at the Philippines, more false,

  cruel, and treacherous than they.

  But to bring this long turn of our affairs to a conclusion; the

  first thing we had to do was to consult with the captain of the

  ship, and with his men, and know if they were willing to go to

  Japan. While I was doing this, the young man whom my nephew had

  left with me as my companion came up, and told me that he thought

  that voyage promised very fair, and that there was a great prospect

  of advantage, and he would be very glad if I undertook it; but that

  if I would not, and would give him leave, he would go as a

  merchant, or as I pleased to order him; that if ever he came to

  England, and I was there and alive, he would render me a faithful

  account of his success, which should be as much mine as I pleased.

  I was loath to part with him; but considering the prospect of

  advantage, which really was considerable, and that he was a young