The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808) Page 7
Straits' mouth; (as indeed any one that hadbeen in their wits must have been supposed to do) for who would havesupposed we were sailed on to the southward to the truly Barbariancoast, where whole nations of Negroes were sure to surround us with thecanoes, and destroy us; where we could never once go on shore but weshould be devoured by savage beasts, or more merciless savages ofhuman kind?
But as soon as it grew dusk in the evening, I changed my course, andsteered directly south and by east, bending my course a little towardthe east, that I might keep in with the shore; and having a fair, freshgale of wind, and a smooth, quiet sea, I made such sail that I believeby the next day at three o'clock in the afternoon, when I first made theland, I could not be less than 150 miles south of Sallee; quite beyondthe Emperor of Morocco's dominions, or indeed of any other kingthereabouts, for we saw no people.
Yet such was the fright I had taken at the Moors, and the dreadfulapprehensions I had of falling into their hands, that I would not stop,or go on shore, or come to an anchor; the wind continuing fair till Ihad sailed in that manner five days, and then the wind shifting to thesouthward, I concluded also that if any of our vessels were in chase ofme, they also would now give over; so I ventured to make to the coast,and come to an anchor in the mouth of a little river, I knew not what,or where; neither what latitude, what country, what nation, or whatriver: I neither saw, or desired to see any people; the principal thingI wanted was fresh water. We came into this creek in the evening,resolving to swim on shore as soon as it was dark, and discover thecountry; but as soon as it was quite dark, we heard, such dreadfulnoises of the barking, roaring, and howling of wild creatures, of weknew not what kinds that the poor boy was ready to die with fear, andbegged of me not to go on shore till day. "Well, Xury," said I, "then Iwon't; but it may be we may see men by day, who will be as bad to us asthose lions."--"Then we give them the shoot gun," says Xury, laughing,"make them run wey." Such English Xury spoke by conversing among usslaves. However, I was glad to see the boy so cheerful, and I gave him adram (out of our patron's case of bottles) to cheer him up. After all,Xury's advice was good, and I took it; we dropped our little anchor, andlay still all night; I say still, for we slept none; for in two or threehours we saw vast great creatures (we knew not what to call them) ofmany sorts, come down to the sea-shore and run into the water, wallowingand washing themselves for the pleasure of cooling themselves; and theymade such hideous howlings and yellings, that I never indeed heardthe like.
Xury was dreadfully frighted, and indeed so was I too; but we were bothmore frighted when we heard one of these mighty creatures come swimmingtowards our boat; we could not see him, but we might hear him by hisblowing to be a monstrous huge and furious beast; Xury said it was alion, and it might be so for aught I know; but poor Xury cried to me toweigh the anchor and row away: "No," says I, "Xury; we can slip ourcable with the buoy to it, and go off to sea; they cannot follow usfar." I had no sooner said so, but I perceived the creature (whatever itwas) within two oars' length, which something surprised me; however, Iimmediately stepped to the cabin-door, and taking up my gun fired athim; upon which he immediately turned about, and swam towards theshore again.
But it is impossible to describe the horrible noises, and hideous criesand howlings, that were raised, as well upon the edge of the shore ashigher within the country, upon the noise or report of the gun, a thingI have some reason to believe those creatures had never heard before:this convinced me that there was no going on shore for us in the nightupon that coast, and how to venture on shore in the day was anotherquestion too; for to have fallen into the hands of any of the savages,had been as bad as to have fallen into the hands of lions and tigers; atleast we were equally apprehensive of the danger of it.
Be that as it would, we were obliged to go on shore somewhere or otherfor water, for we had not a pint left in the boat; when or where to getit, was the point: Xury said, if I would let him go on shore with one ofthe jars, he would find if there was any water, and bring some to me. Iasked him why he would go? why I should not go, and he stay in theboat? The boy answered with so much affection, that made me love himever after. Says he, "If wild mans come, they eat me, you gowey."--"Well, Xury," said I, "we will both go, and if the wild manscome, we will kill them, they shall eat neither of us." So I gave Xury apiece of rusk bread to eat, and a dram out of our patron's case ofbottles which I mentioned before; and we haled the boat in as near theshore as we thought was proper, and waded on shore; carrying nothing butour arms, and two jars for water.
I did not care to go out of sight of the boat, fearing the coming ofcanoes with savages down the river; but the boy seeing a low place abouta mile up the country, rambled to it; and by and by I saw him comerunning towards me. I thought he was pursued by some savage, or frightedwith some wild beast, and I run forward towards him to help him; butwhen I came nearer to him, I saw something hanging over his shoulders,which was a creature that he had shot, like a hare, but different incolour, and longer legs; however, we were very glad of it, and it wasvery good meat; but the great joy that poor Xury came with, was to tellme that he had found good water, and seen no wild mans.
But we found afterwards that we need not take such pains for water, fora little higher up the creek where we were, we found the water freshwhen the tide was out, which flows but a little way up; so we filled ourjars, and feasted on the hare we had killed, and prepared to go on ourway, having seen no footsteps of any human creature in that part ofthe country.
As I had been one voyage to this coast before, I knew very well that theislands of the Canaries, and the Cape de Verd islands also, lay not faroff from the coast. But as I had no instruments to take an observationto know what latitude we were in, and not exactly knowing, or at leastremembering what latitude they were in, and knew not where to look forthem, or when to stand off to sea towards them; otherwise I might noweasily have found some of these islands. But my hope was, that if Istood along this coast till I came to that part where the Englishtraded, I should find some of their vessels upon their usual design oftrade, that would relieve and take us in.
By the best of my calculation, that place where I now was, must be thatcountry, which, lying between the emperor of Morocco's dominions and theNegroes, lies waste, and uninhabited, except by wild beasts; the Negroeshaving abandoned it, and gone farther south for fear of the Moors; andthe Moors not thinking it worth inhabiting, by reason of its barrenness;and indeed both forsaking it because of the prodigious numbers oftigers, lions, leopards, and other furious creatures which harbourthere; so that the Moors use it for their hunting only, where they golike an army, two or three thousand men at a time; and indeed for nearan hundred miles together upon this coast, we saw nothing but a wasteuninhabited country by day, and heard nothing but howlings and roaringof wild beasts by night.
Once or twice in the daytime. I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe,being the high top of the Mountain Teneriffe in the Canaries; and had agreat mind to venture out in hopes of reaching thither; but having triedtwice, I was forced in again by contrary winds, the sea also going toohigh for my little vessel; so I resolved to pursue my first design, andkeep along the shore.
Several times I was obliged to land for fresh water, after we had leftthis place; and once in particular, being early in the morning, we cameto an anchor under a little point of land which was pretty high; and thetide beginning to flow, we lay still to go farther in. Xury, whose eyeswere more about him than it seems mine were, calls softly to me, andtells me that we had best go farther off the shore; "for," says he,"look yonder lies a dreadful monster on the side of that hillock fastasleep." I looked where he pointed, and saw a dreadful monster indeed,for it was a terrible great lion that lay on the side of the shore,under the shade of a piece of the hill that hung as it were a littleover him. "Xury," says I, "you shall go on shore and kill him." Xurylooked frighted, and said, "Me kill! he eat me at one mouth;" onemouthful he meant: however, I said no more to the boy, but had him liestill, and I took our biggest gun, which was almost mus
ket-bore, andloaded it with a good charge of powder, and with two slugs, and laid itdown; then I loaded another gun with two bullets; and the third, for wehad three pieces, I loaded with five smaller bullets. I took the bestaim I could with the first piece, to have shot him into the head, but helay so with his leg raised a little above his nose, that the slugs hithis leg about the knee, and broke the bone. He started up growling atfirst, but finding his leg broke fell down again, and then got up uponthree legs, and gave the most hideous roar that ever I heard. I was alittle surprised that I had not hit him on the head; however, I look upthe second piece immediately, and, though he began to move off, firedagain, and shot him into the head, and had the pleasure to see him drop,and make but little noise, but he struggling for life. Then Xury tookHeart, and would have me