WRECKED ON A DESERT ISLAND

After this stop, we made on to the southward continually for ten orrntwelve days, living very sparingly on our provisions, which began tornabate very much, and going no oftener to the shore than we were obligedrnto for fresh water. My design in this was to make the river Gambia orrnSenegal, that is to say anywhere about the Cape de Verde, where I wasrnin hopes to meet with some European ship; and if I did not, I knew notrnwhat course I had to take, but to seek for the islands, or perish therernamong the negroes. I knew that all the ships from Europe, which sailedrneither to the coast of Guinea or to Brazil, or to the East Indies, madernthis cape, or those islands; and, in a word, I put the whole of myrnfortune upon this single point, either that I must meet with some shiprnor must perish.rnrnWhen I had pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I havernsaid, I began to see that the land was inhabited; and in two or threernplaces, as we sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shore to look atrnus; we could also perceive they were quite black and naked. I was oncerninclined to have gone on shore to them; but Xury was my betterrncounsellor, and said to me, “No go, no go.” However, I hauled in nearerrnthe shore that I might talk to them, and I found they ran along thernshore by me a good way. I observed they had no weapons in their hand,rnexcept one, who had a long slender stick, which Xury said was a lance,rnand that they could throw them a great way with good aim; so I kept atrna distance, but talked with them by signs as well as I could; andrnparticularly made signs for something to eat: they beckoned to me tornstop my boat, and they would fetch me some meat. Upon this I loweredrnthe top of my sail and lay by, and two of them ran up into the country,rnand in less than half-an-hour came back, and brought with them twornpieces of dried flesh and some corn, such as is the produce of theirrncountry; but we neither knew what the one or the other was; however, wernwere willing to accept it, but how to come at it was our next dispute,rnfor I would not venture on shore to them, and they were as much afraidrnof us; but they took a safe way for us all, for they brought it to thernshore and laid it down, and went and stood a great way off till wernfetched it on board, and then came close to us again.rnrnWe made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make themrnamends; but an opportunity offered that very instant to oblige themrnwonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mightyrncreatures, one pursuing the other (as we took it) with great fury fromrnthe mountains towards the sea; whether it was the male pursuing thernfemale, or whether they were in sport or in rage, we could not tell,rnany more than we could tell whether it was usual or strange, but Irnbelieve it was the latter; because, in the first place, those ravenousrncreatures seldom appear but in the night; and, in the second place, wernfound the people terribly frighted, especially the women. The man thatrnhad the lance or dart did not fly from them, but the rest did; however,rnas the two creatures ran directly into the water, they did not offer tornfall upon any of the negroes, but plunged themselves into the sea, andrnswam about, as if they had come for their diversion; at last one ofrnthem began to come nearer our boat than at first I expected; but I layrnready for him, for I had loaded my gun with all possible expedition,rnand bade Xury load both the others. As soon as he came fairly within myrnreach, I fired, and shot him directly in the head; immediately he sankrndown into the water, but rose instantly, and plunged up and down, as ifrnhe were struggling for life, and so indeed he was; he immediately madernto the shore; but between the wound, which was his mortal hurt, and thernstrangling of the water, he died just before he reached the shore.rnrnIt is impossible to express the astonishment of these poor creatures atrnthe noise and fire of my gun: some of them were even ready to die forrnfear, and fell down as dead with the very terror; but when they saw therncreature dead, and sunk in the water, and that I made signs to them torncome to the shore, they took heart and came, and began to search forrnthe creature. I found him by his blood staining the water; and by thernhelp of a rope, which I slung round him, and gave the negroes to haul,rnthey dragged him on shore, and found that it was a most curiousrnleopard, spotted, and fine to an admirable degree; and the negroes heldrnup their hands with admiration, to think what it was I had killed himrnwith.rnrnThe other creature, frighted with the flash of fire and the noise ofrnthe gun, swam on shore, and ran up directly to the mountains fromrnwhence they came; nor could I, at that distance, know what it was. Irnfound quickly the negroes wished to eat the flesh of this creature, sornI was willing to have them take it as a favour from me; which, when Irnmade signs to them that they might take him, they were very thankfulrnfor. Immediately they fell to work with him; and though they had nornknife, yet, with a sharpened piece of wood, they took off his skin asrnreadily, and much more readily, than we could have done with a knife.rnThey offered me some of the flesh, which I declined, pointing out thatrnI would give it them; but made signs for the skin, which they gave mernvery freely, and brought me a great deal more of their provisions,rnwhich, though I did not understand, yet I accepted. I then made signsrnto them for some water, and held out one of my jars to them, turning itrnbottom upward, to show that it was empty, and that I wanted to have itrnfilled. They called immediately to some of their friends, and thererncame two women, and brought a great vessel made of earth, and burnt, asrnI supposed, in the sun, this they set down to me, as before, and I sentrnXury on shore with my jars, and filled them all three. The women werernas naked as the men.rnrnI was now furnished with roots and corn, such as it was, and water; andrnleaving my friendly negroes, I made forward for about eleven days more,rnwithout offering to go near the shore, till I saw the land run out arngreat length into the sea, at about the distance of four or fivernleagues before me; and the sea being very calm, I kept a large offingrnto make this point. At length, doubling the point, at about two leaguesrnfrom the land, I saw plainly land on the other side, to seaward; then Irnconcluded, as it was most certain indeed, that this was the Cape dernVerde, and those the islands called, from thence, Cape de VerdernIslands. However, they were at a great distance, and I could not wellrntell what I had best to do; for if I should be taken with a fresh ofrnwind, I might neither reach one or other.rnrnIn this dilemma, as I was very pensive, I stepped into the cabin andrnsat down, Xury having the helm; when, on a sudden, the boy cried out,“Master, master, a ship with a sail!” and the foolish boy was frightedrnout of his wits, thinking it must needs be some of his master’s shipsrnsent to pursue us, but I knew we were far enough out of their reach. Irnjumped out of the cabin, and immediately saw, not only the ship, butrnthat it was a Portuguese ship; and, as I thought, was bound to therncoast of Guinea, for negroes. But, when I observed the course shernsteered, I was soon convinced they were bound some other way, and didrnnot design to come any nearer to the shore; upon which I stretched outrnto sea as much as I could, resolving to speak with them if possible.rnrnWith all the sail I could make, I found I should not be able to come inrntheir way, but that they would be gone by before I could make anyrnsignal to them: but after I had crowded to the utmost, and began torndespair, they, it seems, saw by the help of their glasses that it wasrnsome European boat, which they supposed must belong to some ship thatrnwas lost; so they shortened sail to let me come up. I was encouragedrnwith this, and as I had my patron’s ancient on board, I made a waft ofrnit to them, for a signal of distress, and fired a gun, both which theyrnsaw; for they told me they saw the smoke, though they did not hear therngun. Upon these signals they very kindly brought to, and lay by for me;rnand in about three hours’ time I came up with them.rnrnThey asked me what I was, in Portuguese, and in Spanish, and in French,rnbut I understood none of them; but at last a Scotch sailor, who was onrnboard, called to me: and I answered him, and told him I was anrnEnglishman, that I had made my escape out of slavery from the Moors, atrnSallee; they then bade me come on board, and very kindly took me in,rnand all my goods.rnrnIt was an inexpressible joy to me, which any one will believe, that Irnwas thus delivered, as I esteemed it, from such a miserable and almostrnhopeless condition as I was in; and I immediately offered all I had tornthe captain of the ship, as a return for my deliverance; but herngenerously told me he would take nothing from me, but that all I hadrnshould be delivered safe to me when I came to the Brazils. “For,” saysrnhe, “I have saved your life on no other terms than I would be glad tornbe saved myself: and it may, one time or other, be my lot to be takenrnup in the same condition. Besides,” said he, “when I carry you to thernBrazils, so great a way from your own country, if I should take fromrnyou what you have, you will be starved there, and then I only take awayrnthat life I have given. No, no,” says he: “Seignior Inglese” (Mr.rnEnglishman), “I will carry you thither in charity, and those thingsrnwill help to buy your subsistence there, and your passage home again.”rnrnAs he was charitable in this proposal, so he was just in thernperformance to a tittle; for he ordered the seamen that none shouldrntouch anything that I had: then he took everything into his ownrnpossession, and gave me back an exact inventory of them, that I mightrnhave them, even to my three earthen jars.rnrnAs to my boat, it was a very good one; and that he saw, and told me hernwould buy it of me for his ship’s use; and asked me what I would havernfor it? I told him he had been so generous to me in everything that Irncould not offer to make any price of the boat, but left it entirely tornhim: upon which he told me he would give me a note of hand to pay merneighty pieces of eight for it at Brazil; and when it came there, if anyrnone offered to give more, he would make it up. He offered me also sixtyrnpieces of eight more for my boy Xury, which I was loth to take; notrnthat I was unwilling to let the captain have him, but I was very lothrnto sell the poor boy’s liberty, who had assisted me so faithfully inrnprocuring my own. However, when I let him know my reason, he owned itrnto be just, and offered me this medium, that he would give the boy anrnobligation to set him free in ten years, if he turned Christian: uponrnthis, and Xury saying he was willing to go to him, I let the captainrnhave him.rnrnWe had a very good voyage to the Brazils, and I arrived in the Bay dernTodos los Santos, or All Saints’ Bay, in about twenty-two days after.rnAnd now I was once more delivered from the most miserable of allrnconditions of life; and what to do next with myself I was to consider.rnrnThe generous treatment the captain gave me I can never enough remember:rnhe would take nothing of me for my passage, gave me twenty ducats forrnthe leopard’s skin, and forty for the lion’s skin, which I had in myrnboat, and caused everything I had in the ship to be punctuallyrndelivered to me; and what I was willing to sell he bought of me, suchrnas the case of bottles, two of my guns, and a piece of the lump ofrnbeeswax—for I had made candles of the rest: in a word, I made about twornhundred and twenty pieces of eight of all my cargo; and with this stockrnI went on shore in the Brazils.rnrnI had not been long here before I was recommended to the house of arngood honest man like himself, who had an _ingenio_, as they call itrn(that is, a plantation and a sugar-house). I lived with him some time,rnand acquainted myself by that means with the manner of planting andrnmaking of sugar; and seeing how well the planters lived, and how theyrngot rich suddenly, I resolved, if I could get a licence to settlernthere, I would turn planter among them: resolving in the meantime tornfind out some way to get my money, which I had left in London, remittedrnto me. To this purpose, getting a kind of letter of naturalisation, Irnpurchased as much land that was uncured as my money would reach, andrnformed a plan for my plantation and settlement; such a one as might bernsuitable to the stock which I proposed to myself to receive fromrnEngland.rnrnI had a neighbour, a Portuguese, of Lisbon, but born of Englishrnparents, whose name was Wells, and in much such circumstances as I was.rnI call him my neighbour, because his plantation lay next to mine, andrnwe went on very sociably together. My stock was but low, as well asrnhis; and we rather planted for food than anything else, for about twornyears. However, we began to increase, and our land began to come intornorder; so that the third year we planted some tobacco, and made each ofrnus a large piece of ground ready for planting canes in the year torncome. But we both wanted help; and now I found, more than before, I hadrndone wrong in parting with my boy Xury.rnrnBut, alas! for me to do wrong that never did right, was no greatrnwonder. I had no remedy but to go on: I had got into an employmentrnquite remote to my genius, and directly contrary to the life Irndelighted in, and for which I forsook my father’s house, and brokernthrough all his good advice. Nay, I was coming into the very middlernstation, or upper degree of low life, which my father advised me tornbefore, and which, if I resolved to go on with, I might as well havernstayed at home, and never have fatigued myself in the world as I hadrndone; and I used often to say to myself, I could have done this as wellrnin England, among my friends, as have gone five thousand miles off torndo it among strangers and savages, in a wilderness, and at such arndistance as never to hear from any part of the world that had the leastrnknowledge of me.rnrnIn this manner I used to look upon my condition with the utmost regret.rnI had nobody to converse with, but now and then this neighbour; no workrnto be done, but by the labour of my hands; and I used to say, I livedrnjust like a man cast away upon some desolate island, that had nobodyrnthere but himself. But how just has it been—and how should all menrnreflect, that when they compare their present conditions with othersrnthat are worse, Heaven may oblige them to make the exchange, and bernconvinced of their former felicity by their experience—I say, how justrnhas it been, that the truly solitary life I reflected on, in an islandrnof mere desolation, should be my lot, who had so often unjustlyrncompared it with the life which I then led, in which, had I continued,rnI had in all probability been exceeding prosperous and rich.rnrnI was in some degree settled in my measures for carrying on thernplantation before my kind friend, the captain of the ship that took mernup at sea, went back—for the ship remained there, in providing hisrnlading and preparing for his voyage, nearly three months—when tellingrnhim what little stock I had left behind me in London, he gave me thisrnfriendly and sincere advice:—“Seignior Inglese,” says he (for so hernalways called me), “if you will give me letters, and a procuration inrnform to me, with orders to the person who has your money in London tornsend your effects to Lisbon, to such persons as I shall direct, and inrnsuch goods as are proper for this country, I will bring you the producernof them, God willing, at my return; but, since human affairs are allrnsubject to changes and disasters, I would have you give orders but forrnone hundred pounds sterling, which, you say, is half your stock, andrnlet the hazard be run for the first; so that, if it come safe, you mayrnorder the rest the same way, and, if it miscarry, you may have thernother half to have recourse to for your supply.”rnrnThis was so wholesome advice, and looked so friendly, that I could notrnbut be convinced it was the best course I could take; so I accordinglyrnprepared letters to the gentlewoman with whom I had left my money, andrna procuration to the Portuguese captain, as he desired.rnrnI wrote the English captain’s widow a full account of all myrnadventures—my slavery, escape, and how I had met with the Portugueserncaptain at sea, the humanity of his behaviour, and what condition I wasrnnow in, with all other necessary directions for my supply; and whenrnthis honest captain came to Lisbon, he found means, by some of thernEnglish merchants there, to send over, not the order only, but a fullrnaccount of my story to a merchant in London, who represented itrneffectually to her; whereupon she not only delivered the money, but outrnof her own pocket sent the Portugal captain a very handsome present forrnhis humanity and charity to me.rnrnThe merchant in London, vesting this hundred pounds in English goods,rnsuch as the captain had written for, sent them directly to him atrnLisbon, and he brought them all safe to me to the Brazils; among which,rnwithout my direction (for I was too young in my business to think ofrnthem), he had taken care to have all sorts of tools, ironwork, andrnutensils necessary for my plantation, and which were of great use tornme.rnrnWhen this cargo arrived I thought my fortune made, for I was surprisedrnwith the joy of it; and my good steward, the captain, had laid out thernfive pounds, which my friend had sent him for a present for himself, tornpurchase and bring me over a servant, under bond for six years’rnservice, and would not accept of any consideration, except a littlerntobacco, which I would have him accept, being of my own produce.rnrnNeither was this all; for my goods being all English manufacture, suchrnas cloths, stuffs, baize, and things particularly valuable andrndesirable in the country, I found means to sell them to a very greatrnadvantage; so that I might say I had more than four times the value ofrnmy first cargo, and was now infinitely beyond my poor neighbour—I meanrnin the advancement of my plantation; for the first thing I did, Irnbought me a negro slave, and an European servant also—I mean anotherrnbesides that which the captain brought me from Lisbon.rnrnBut as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of ourrngreatest adversity, so it was with me. I went on the next year withrngreat success in my plantation: I raised fifty great rolls of tobaccornon my own ground, more than I had disposed of for necessaries among myrnneighbours; and these fifty rolls, being each of above a hundredweight,rnwere well cured, and laid by against the return of the fleet fromrnLisbon: and now increasing in business and wealth, my head began to bernfull of projects and undertakings beyond my reach; such as are, indeed,rnoften the ruin of the best heads in business. Had I continued in thernstation I was now in, I had room for all the happy things to have yetrnbefallen me for which my father so earnestly recommended a quiet,rnretired life, and of which he had so sensibly described the middlernstation of life to be full of; but other things attended me, and I wasrnstill to be the wilful agent of all my own miseries; and particularly,rnto increase my fault, and double the reflections upon myself, which inrnmy future sorrows I should have leisure to make, all these miscarriagesrnwere procured by my apparent obstinate adhering to my foolishrninclination of wandering abroad, and pursuing that inclination, inrncontradiction to the clearest views of doing myself good in a fair andrnplain pursuit of those prospects, and those measures of life, whichrnnature and Providence concurred to present me with, and to make myrnduty.rnrnAs I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parents, so I couldrnnot be content now, but I must go and leave the happy view I had ofrnbeing a rich and thriving man in my new plantation, only to pursue arnrash and immoderate desire of rising faster than the nature of thernthing admitted; and thus I cast myself down again into the deepest gulfrnof human misery that ever man fell into, or perhaps could be consistentrnwith life and a state of health in the world.rnrnTo come, then, by the just degrees to the particulars of this part ofrnmy story. You may suppose, that having now lived almost four years inrnthe Brazils, and beginning to thrive and prosper very well upon myrnplantation, I had not only learned the language, but had contractedrnacquaintance and friendship among my fellow-planters, as well as amongrnthe merchants at St. Salvador, which was our port; and that, in myrndiscourses among them, I had frequently given them an account of my twornvoyages to the coast of Guinea: the manner of trading with the negroesrnthere, and how easy it was to purchase upon the coast for trifles—suchrnas beads, toys, knives, scissors, hatchets, bits of glass, and thernlike—not only gold-dust, Guinea grains, elephants’ teeth, &c., butrnnegroes, for the service of the Brazils, in great numbers.rnrnThey listened always very attentively to my discourses on these heads,rnbut especially to that part which related to the buying of negroes,rnwhich was a trade at that time, not only not far entered into, but, asrnfar as it was, had been carried on by assientos, or permission of thernkings of Spain and Portugal, and engrossed in the public stock: so thatrnfew negroes were bought, and these excessively dear.rnrnIt happened, being in company with some merchants and planters of myrnacquaintance, and talking of those things very earnestly, three of themrncame to me next morning, and told me they had been musing very muchrnupon what I had discoursed with them of the last night, and they camernto make a secret proposal to me; and, after enjoining me to secrecy,rnthey told me that they had a mind to fit out a ship to go to Guinea;rnthat they had all plantations as well as I, and were straitened forrnnothing so much as servants; that as it was a trade that could not berncarried on, because they could not publicly sell the negroes when theyrncame home, so they desired to make but one voyage, to bring the negroesrnon shore privately, and divide them among their own plantations; and,rnin a word, the question was whether I would go their supercargo in thernship, to manage the trading part upon the coast of Guinea; and theyrnoffered me that I should have my equal share of the negroes, withoutrnproviding any part of the stock.rnrnThis was a fair proposal, it must be confessed, had it been made to anyrnone that had not had a settlement and a plantation of his own to lookrnafter, which was in a fair way of coming to be very considerable, andrnwith a good stock upon it; but for me, that was thus entered andrnestablished, and had nothing to do but to go on as I had begun, forrnthree or four years more, and to have sent for the other hundred poundsrnfrom England; and who in that time, and with that little addition,rncould scarce have failed of being worth three or four thousand poundsrnsterling, and that increasing too—for me to think of such a voyage wasrnthe most preposterous thing that ever man in such circumstances couldrnbe guilty of.rnrnBut I, that was born to be my own destroyer, could no more resist thernoffer than I could restrain my first rambling designs when my father’srngood counsel was lost upon me. In a word, I told them I would go withrnall my heart, if they would undertake to look after my plantation in myrnabsence, and would dispose of it to such as I should direct, if Irnmiscarried. This they all engaged to do, and entered into writings orrncovenants to do so; and I made a formal will, disposing of myrnplantation and effects in case of my death, making the captain of thernship that had saved my life, as before, my universal heir, but obligingrnhim to dispose of my effects as I had directed in my will; one half ofrnthe produce being to himself, and the other to be shipped to England.rnrnIn short, I took all possible caution to preserve my effects and tornkeep up my plantation. Had I used half as much prudence to have lookedrninto my own interest, and have made a judgment of what I ought to haverndone and not to have done, I had certainly never gone away from sornprosperous an undertaking, leaving all the probable views of a thrivingrncircumstance, and gone upon a voyage to sea, attended with all itsrncommon hazards, to say nothing of the reasons I had to expectrnparticular misfortunes to myself.rnrnBut I was hurried on, and obeyed blindly the dictates of my fancyrnrather than my reason; and, accordingly, the ship being fitted out, andrnthe cargo furnished, and all things done, as by agreement, by myrnpartners in the voyage, I went on board in an evil hour, the 1strnSeptember 1659, being the same day eight years that I went from myrnfather and mother at Hull, in order to act the rebel to theirrnauthority, and the fool to my own interests.rnrnOur ship was about one hundred and twenty tons burden, carried six gunsrnand fourteen men, besides the master, his boy, and myself. We had onrnboard no large cargo of goods, except of such toys as were fit for ourrntrade with the negroes, such as beads, bits of glass, shells, and otherrntrifles, especially little looking-glasses, knives, scissors, hatchets,rnand the like.rnrnThe same day I went on board we set sail, standing away to thernnorthward upon our own coast, with design to stretch over for thernAfrican coast when we came about ten or twelve degrees of northernrnlatitude, which, it seems, was the manner of course in those days. Wernhad very good weather, only excessively hot, all the way upon our ownrncoast, till we came to the height of Cape St. Augustino; from whence,rnkeeping further off at sea, we lost sight of land, and steered as if wernwere bound for the isle Fernando de Noronha, holding our course N.E. byrnN., and leaving those isles on the east. In this course we passed thernline in about twelve days’ time, and were, by our last observation, inrnseven degrees twenty-two minutes northern latitude, when a violentrntornado, or hurricane, took us quite out of our knowledge. It beganrnfrom the south-east, came about to the north-west, and then settled inrnthe north-east; from whence it blew in such a terrible manner, that forrntwelve days together we could do nothing but drive, and, scudding awayrnbefore it, let it carry us whither fate and the fury of the windsrndirected; and, during these twelve days, I need not say that I expectedrnevery day to be swallowed up; nor, indeed, did any in the ship expectrnto save their lives.rnrnIn this distress we had, besides the terror of the storm, one of ourrnmen die of the calenture, and one man and the boy washed overboard.rnAbout the twelfth day, the weather abating a little, the master made anrnobservation as well as he could, and found that he was in about elevenrndegrees north latitude, but that he was twenty-two degrees of longituderndifference west from Cape St. Augustino; so that he found he was uponrnthe coast of Guiana, or the north part of Brazil, beyond the riverrnAmazon, toward that of the river Orinoco, commonly called the GreatrnRiver; and began to consult with me what course he should take, for thernship was leaky, and very much disabled, and he was going directly backrnto the coast of Brazil.rnrnI was positively against that; and looking over the charts of thernsea-coast of America with him, we concluded there was no inhabitedrncountry for us to have recourse to till we came within the circle ofrnthe Caribbee Islands, and therefore resolved to stand away forrnBarbadoes; which, by keeping off at sea, to avoid the indraft of thernBay or Gulf of Mexico, we might easily perform, as we hoped, in aboutrnfifteen days’ sail; whereas we could not possibly make our voyage tornthe coast of Africa without some assistance both to our ship and tornourselves.rnrnWith this design we changed our course, and steered away N.W. by W., inrnorder to reach some of our English islands, where I hoped for relief.rnBut our voyage was otherwise determined; for, being in the latitude ofrntwelve degrees eighteen minutes, a second storm came upon us, whichrncarried us away with the same impetuosity westward, and drove us so outrnof the way of all human commerce, that, had all our lives been saved asrnto the sea, we were rather in danger of being devoured by savages thanrnever returning to our own country.rnrnIn this distress, the wind still blowing very hard, one of our menrnearly in the morning cried out, “Land!” and we had no sooner run out ofrnthe cabin to look out, in hopes of seeing whereabouts in the world wernwere, than the ship struck upon a sand, and in a moment her motionrnbeing so stopped, the sea broke over her in such a manner that wernexpected we should all have perished immediately; and we werernimmediately driven into our close quarters, to shelter us from the veryrnfoam and spray of the sea.rnrnIt is not easy for any one who has not been in the like condition torndescribe or conceive the consternation of men in such circumstances. Wernknew nothing where we were, or upon what land it was we wererndriven—whether an island or the main, whether inhabited or notrninhabited. As the rage of the wind was still great, though rather lessrnthan at first, we could not so much as hope to have the ship hold manyrnminutes without breaking into pieces, unless the winds, by a kind ofrnmiracle, should turn immediately about. In a word, we sat looking uponrnone another, and expecting death every moment, and every man,rnaccordingly, preparing for another world; for there was little orrnnothing more for us to do in this. That which was our present comfort,rnand all the comfort we had, was that, contrary to our expectation, thernship did not break yet, and that the master said the wind began tornabate.rnrnNow, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, yet the shiprnhaving thus struck upon the sand, and sticking too fast for us tornexpect her getting off, we were in a dreadful condition indeed, and hadrnnothing to do but to think of saving our lives as well as we could. Wernhad a boat at our stern just before the storm, but she was first stavedrnby dashing against the ship’s rudder, and in the next place she brokernaway, and either sunk or was driven off to sea; so there was no hopernfrom her. We had another boat on board, but how to get her off into thernsea was a doubtful thing. However, there was no time to debate, for wernfancied that the ship would break in pieces every minute, and some toldrnus she was actually broken already.rnrnIn this distress the mate of our vessel laid hold of the boat, and withrnthe help of the rest of the men got her slung over the ship’s side; andrngetting all into her, let go, and committed ourselves, being eleven inrnnumber, to God’s mercy and the wild sea; for though the storm wasrnabated considerably, yet the sea ran dreadfully high upon the shore,rnand might be well called _den wild zee_, as the Dutch call the sea in arnstorm.rnrnAnd now our case was very dismal indeed; for we all saw plainly thatrnthe sea went so high that the boat could not live, and that we shouldrnbe inevitably drowned. As to making sail, we had none, nor if we hadrncould we have done anything with it; so we worked at the oar towardsrnthe land, though with heavy hearts, like men going to execution; for wernall knew that when the boat came near the shore she would be dashed inrna thousand pieces by the breach of the sea. However, we committed ourrnsouls to God in the most earnest manner; and the wind driving usrntowards the shore, we hastened our destruction with our own hands,rnpulling as well as we could towards land.rnrnWhat the shore was, whether rock or sand, whether steep or shoal, wernknew not. The only hope that could rationally give us the least shadowrnof expectation was, if we might find some bay or gulf, or the mouth ofrnsome river, where by great chance we might have run our boat in, or gotrnunder the lee of the land, and perhaps made smooth water. But there wasrnnothing like this appeared; but as we made nearer and nearer the shore,rnthe land looked more frightful than the sea.rnrnAfter we had rowed, or rather driven about a league and a half, as wernreckoned it, a raging wave, mountain-like, came rolling astern of us,rnand plainly bade us expect the _coup de grâce_. It took us with such arnfury, that it overset the boat at once; and separating us as well fromrnthe boat as from one another, gave us no time to say, “O God!” for wernwere all swallowed up in a moment.rnrnNothing can describe the confusion of thought which I felt when I sankrninto the water; for though I swam very well, yet I could not deliverrnmyself from the waves so as to draw breath, till that wave havingrndriven me, or rather carried me, a vast way on towards the shore, andrnhaving spent itself, went back, and left me upon the land almost dry,rnbut half dead with the water I took in. I had so much presence of mind,rnas well as breath left, that seeing myself nearer the mainland than Irnexpected, I got upon my feet, and endeavoured to make on towards thernland as fast as I could before another wave should return and take mernup again; but I soon found it was impossible to avoid it; for I saw thernsea come after me as high as a great hill, and as furious as an enemy,rnwhich I had no means or strength to contend with: my business was tornhold my breath, and raise myself upon the water if I could; and so, byrnswimming, to preserve my breathing, and pilot myself towards the shore,rnif possible, my greatest concern now being that the sea, as it wouldrncarry me a great way towards the shore when it came on, might not carryrnme back again with it when it gave back towards the sea.rnrnThe wave that came upon me again buried me at once twenty or thirtyrnfeet deep in its own body, and I could feel myself carried with arnmighty force and swiftness towards the shore—a very great way; but Irnheld my breath, and assisted myself to swim still forward with all myrnmight. I was ready to burst with holding my breath, when, as I feltrnmyself rising up, so, to my immediate relief, I found my head and handsrnshoot out above the surface of the water; and though it was not twornseconds of time that I could keep myself so, yet it relieved merngreatly, gave me breath, and new courage. I was covered again withrnwater a good while, but not so long but I held it out; and finding thernwater had spent itself, and began to return, I struck forward againstrnthe return of the waves, and felt ground again with my feet. I stoodrnstill a few moments to recover breath, and till the waters went fromrnme, and then took to my heels and ran with what strength I had furtherrntowards the shore. But neither would this deliver me from the fury ofrnthe sea, which came pouring in after me again; and twice more I wasrnlifted up by the waves and carried forward as before, the shore beingrnvery flat.rnrnThe last time of these two had well-nigh been fatal to me, for the searnhaving hurried me along as before, landed me, or rather dashed me,rnagainst a piece of rock, and that with such force, that it left mernsenseless, and indeed helpless, as to my own deliverance; for the blowrntaking my side and breast, beat the breath as it were quite out of myrnbody; and had it returned again immediately, I must have been strangledrnin the water; but I recovered a little before the return of the waves,rnand seeing I should be covered again with the water, I resolved to holdrnfast by a piece of the rock, and so to hold my breath, if possible,rntill the wave went back. Now, as the waves were not so high as atrnfirst, being nearer land, I held my hold till the wave abated, and thenrnfetched another run, which brought me so near the shore that the nextrnwave, though it went over me, yet did not so swallow me up as to carryrnme away; and the next run I took, I got to the mainland, where, to myrngreat comfort, I clambered up the cliffs of the shore and sat me downrnupon the grass, free from danger and quite out of the reach of thernwater.rnrnI was now landed and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank Godrnthat my life was saved, in a case wherein there was some minutes beforernscarce any room to hope. I believe it is impossible to express, to thernlife, what the ecstasies and transports of the soul are, when it is sornsaved, as I may say, out of the very grave: and I do not wonder now atrnthe custom, when a malefactor, who has the halter about his neck, isrntied up, and just going to be turned off, and has a reprieve brought tornhim—I say, I do not wonder that they bring a surgeon with it, to letrnhim blood that very moment they tell him of it, that the surprise mayrnnot drive the animal spirits from the heart and overwhelm him.rnrn“For sudden joys, like griefs, confound at first.”rnrnrnI walked about on the shore lifting up my hands, and my whole being, asrnI may say, wrapped up in a contemplation of my deliverance; making arnthousand gestures and motions, which I cannot describe; reflecting uponrnall my comrades that were drowned, and that there should not be onernsoul saved but myself; for, as for them, I never saw them afterwards,rnor any sign of them, except three of their hats, one cap, and two shoesrnthat were not fellows.rnrnI cast my eye to the stranded vessel, when, the breach and froth of thernsea being so big, I could hardly see it, it lay so far off; andrnconsidered, Lord! how was it possible I could get on shore?rnrnAfter I had solaced my mind with the comfortable part of my condition,rnI began to look round me, to see what kind of place I was in, and whatrnwas next to be done; and I soon found my comforts abate, and that, in arnword, I had a dreadful deliverance; for I was wet, had no clothes tornshift me, nor anything either to eat or drink to comfort me; neitherrndid I see any prospect before me but that of perishing with hunger orrnbeing devoured by wild beasts; and that which was particularlyrnafflicting to me was, that I had no weapon, either to hunt and kill anyrncreature for my sustenance, or to defend myself against any otherrncreature that might desire to kill me for theirs. In a word, I hadrnnothing about me but a knife, a tobacco-pipe, and a little tobacco in arnbox. This was all my provisions; and this threw me into such terriblernagonies of mind, that for a while I ran about like a madman. Nightrncoming upon me, I began with a heavy heart to consider what would be myrnlot if there were any ravenous beasts in that country, as at night theyrnalways come abroad for their prey.rnrnAll the remedy that offered to my thoughts at that time was to get uprninto a thick bushy tree like a fir, but thorny, which grew near me, andrnwhere I resolved to sit all night, and consider the next day what deathrnI should die, for as yet I saw no prospect of life. I walked about arnfurlong from the shore, to see if I could find any fresh water torndrink, which I did, to my great joy; and having drank, and put a littlerntobacco into my mouth to prevent hunger, I went to the tree, andrngetting up into it, endeavoured to place myself so that if I shouldrnsleep I might not fall. And having cut me a short stick, like arntruncheon, for my defence, I took up my lodging; and having beenrnexcessively fatigued, I fell fast asleep, and slept as comfortably as,rnI believe, few could have done in my condition, and found myself morernrefreshed with it than, I think, I ever was on such an occasion.