Part 2 (2/2)
DEC 26 - No rain, and the earth much cooler than before, and pleasanter
DEC 27 - Killed a young goat, and la; when I had it at ho, which was broke
NB - I took such care of it that it lived, and the leg greell and as strong as ever; but, by reen at o away This was the first ti up soht have food when my powder and shot was all spent
DEC 28,29,30,31 - Great heats, and no breeze, so that there was no stirring abroad, except in the evening, for food; this tis in order within doors
JANUARY 1 - Very hot still: but I went abroad early and late with , going farther into the valleys which lay towards the centre of the island, I found there were plenty of goats, though exceedingly shy, and hard to co to hunt thely, the next day I went out with oats, but I was , and he knew his danger too well, for he would not coanattacked by so
NB - This wall being described before, I purposely omit as said in the journal; it is sufficient to observe, that I was no less ti, finishi+ng, and perfecting this wall, though it was noa half-circle froht yards fro in the centre behind it
All this ti ht I should never be perfectly secure till this as finished; and it is scarce credible what inexpressible labour everything was done with, especially the bringing piles out of the woods and driving theer than I needed to have done
When this as finished, and the outside double fenced, with a turf wall raised up close to it, I perceived myself that if any people were to co like a habitation; and it was very well I did so, as may be observed hereafter, upon a very re this tiame every day when the rain permittedor other to eons, which build, not as wood-pigeons in a tree, but rather as house-pigeons, in the holes of the rocks; and taking so ones, I endeavoured to breed therew older they flehich perhaps was at first for want of feeding theive theot their young ones, which were very goods, which I thought at first it was impossible for me to make; as, indeed, with some of them it was: for instance, I could never make a cask to be hooped I had a small runlet or two, as I observed before; but I could never arrive at the capacity of h I spent many weeks about it; I could neither put in the heads, or join the staves so true to one another as to ave that also over In the next place, I was at a great loss for candles; so that as soon as ever it was dark, which was generally by seven o'clock, I was obliged to go to bed I remembered the lump of beeshich I made candles in my African adventure; but I had none of that now; the only reoat I saved the tallow, and with a little dish made of clay, which I baked in the sun, to which I added a wick of soh not a clear, steady light, like a candle In the s, I found a little bag which, as I hinted before, had been filled with corn for the feeding of poultry - not for this voyage, but before, as I suppose, when the shi+p came from Lisbon The little re was all devoured by the rats, and I saw nothing in the bag but husks and dust; and being willing to have the bag for some other use (I think it was to put powder in, when I divided it for fear of the lightning, or some such use), I shook the husks of corn out of it on one side of my fortification, under the rock
It was a little before the great rains just nowno notice, and not sothere, when, about a month after, or thereabouts, I saw soround, which I fancied ht be some plant I had not seen; but I was surprised, and perfectly astonished, when, after a little longer time, I saw about ten or twelve ears coreen barley, of the salish barley
It is impossible to express the astonishhts on this occasion I had hitherto acted upon no religious foundation at all; indeed, I had very few notions of religion inthat had befallen htly say, what pleases God, without so s, or His order in governing events for the world But after I saw barley grow there, in a climate which I kneas not proper for corn, and especially that I knew not how it caest that God had roithout any help of seed sown, and that it was so directed purely for my sustenance on that wild, miserable place
This touched an to bless y of nature should happen upon e toby the side of the rock, so stalks, which proved to be stalks of rice, and which I knew, because I had seen it grow in Africa when I was ashore there
I not only thought these the pure productions of Providence forthat there was more in the place, I went all over that part of the island, where I had been before, peering in every corner, and under every rock, to see for more of it, but I could not find any At last it occurred toof chickens' an to cease; and I ious thankfulness to God's providence began to abate, too, upon the discovering that all this was nothing but as coe and unforeseen a providence as if it had been miraculous; for it was really the work of Providence to rains of corn should remain unspoiled, when the rats had destroyed all the rest, as if it had been dropped from heaven; as also, that I should throw it out in that particular place, where, it being in the shade of a high rock, it sprang up immediately; whereas, if I had thrown it anywhere else at that time, it had been burnt up and destroyed
I carefully saved the ears of this corn, you may be sure, in their season, which was about the end of June; and, laying up every corn, I resolved to sow the in time to have some quantity sufficient to supply me with bread But it was not till the fourth year that I could allow rain of this corn to eat, and even then but sparingly, as I shall say afterwards, in its order; for I lost all that I sowed the first season by not observing the proper time; for I sowed it just before the dry season, so that it never came up at all, at least not as it would have done; of which in its place
Besides this barley, there were, as above, twenty or thirty stalks of rice, which I preserved with the same care and for the same use, or to the same purpose - to make me bread, or rather food; for I found ways to cook it without baking, though I did that also after some time
But to return to my Journal
I worked excessive hard these three or four etto go into it, not by a door but over the wall, by a ladder, that there n on the outside of my habitation
APRIL 16 - I finished the ladder; so I went up the ladder to the top, and then pulled it up after me, and let it down in the inside This was a coh, and nothing could come at me from without, unless it could first mount my wall
The very next day after this as finished I had almost had all my labour overthrown at once, and myself killed The case was thus: As I was busy in the inside, behind my tent, just at the entrance into hted with aindeed; for all on a sudden I found the earth coe of the hill over my head, and two of the posts I had set up in the cave cracked in a frightfulof as really the cause, only thinking that the top of my cave was fallen in, as some of it had done before: and for fear I should be buried in it I ran forward to ot over my wall for fear of the pieces of the hill, which I expected round, than I plainly saas a terrible earthquake, for the ground I stood on shook three tiht minutes' distance, with three such shocks as would have overturned the strongest building that could be supposed to have stood on the earth; and a great piece of the top of a rock which stood about half a mile from me next the sea fell doith such a terrible noise as I never heard in all my life I perceived also the very sea was put into violent er under the water than on the island
I was sonever felt the like, nor discoursed with any one that had, that I was like one dead or stupefied; and the motion of the earth made my stomach sick, like one that was tossed at sea; but the noise of the falling of the rock awakenedme from the stupefied condition I was in, filledthen but the hill falling uponall at once; and this sunk my very soul within me a second time
After the third shock was over, and I felt no e; and yet I had not heart enough to go overburied alive, but sat still upon the ground greatly cast down and disconsolate, not knohat to do All this while I had not the least serious religious thought; nothing but the common ”Lord have mercy upon me!” and when it was over that went away too
While I sat thus, I found the air overcast and grow cloudy, as if it would rain Soon after that the wind arose by little and little, so that in less than half-an-hour it blew a most dreadful hurricane; the sea was all on a sudden covered over with foam and froth; the shore was covered with the breach of the water, the trees were torn up by the roots, and a terrible storan to abate; and in two hours an to rain very hard All this while I sat upon the ground very much terrified and dejected; when on a sudden it ca the consequences of the earthquake, the earthquake itself was spent and over, and I htto persuade me, I went in and sat down in my tent But the rain was so violent that my tent was ready to be beaten doith it; and I was forced to go into h very much afraid and uneasy, for fear it should fall on my head This violent rain forced h o out, which would else have flooded my cave After I had been in my cave for some time, and found still no an to be more composed And now, to support my spirits, which indeed wanted it very much, I went to my little store, and took a small sup of ruly, knowing I could have no ht and great part of the next day, so that I could not stir abroad; but an to think of what I had best do; concluding that if the island was subject to these earthquakes, there would be no living fora little hut in an open place which I ht surround with a wall, as I had done here, and so make myself secure from wild beasts or men; for I concluded, if I stayed where I was, I should certainly one tihts, I resolved to remove my tent fro precipice of the hill; and which, if it should be shaken again, would certainly fall uponthe 19th and 20th of April, in contriving where and how to re sed up alive made me that I never slept in quiet; and yet the apprehension of lying abroad without any fence was almost equal to it; but still, when I looked about, and sa everything was put in order, how pleasantly concealed I was, and how safe froer, it made me very loath to remove In the meantime, it occurred to me that it would require a vast deal of time for me to do this, and that I must be contented to venture where I was, till I had formed a camp for myself, and had secured it so as to remove to it So with this resolution I coo to ith all speed to build me a ith piles and cables, &c, in a circle, as before, and set my tent up in it when it was finished; but that I would venture to stay where I was till it was finished, and fit to re I begin to consider of reat loss about e axes, and abundance of hatchets (for we carried the hatchets for traffic with the Indians); but withknotty hard wood, they were all full of notches, and dull; and though I had a grindstone, I could not turn it and grind ht as a statesrand point of politics, or a judge upon the life and death of a , to turn it with ht have bothin England, or at least, not to take notice hoas done, though since I have observed, it is very coe and heavy Thisit to perfection
APRIL 28, 29 - These thole days I took up in grindingvery well
APRIL 30 - Having perceived reat while, now I took a survey of it, and reduced myself to one biscuit cake a day, which , looking towards the sea side, the tide being low, I saw soer than ordinary, and it looked like a cask; when I came to it, I found a small barrel, and two or three pieces of the wreck of the shi+p, which were driven on shore by the late hurricane; and looking towards the wreck itself, I thought it seeher out of the water than it used to do I examined the barrel which was driven on shore, and soon found it was a barrel of gunpowder; but it had taken water, and the poas caked as hard as a stone; however, I rolled it farther on shore for the present, and went on upon the sands, as near as I could to the wreck of the shi+p, to look for more
CHAPTER VI
- ILL AND CONSCIENCE-STRICKEN
WHEN I caely removed The forecastle, which lay before buried in sand, was heaved up at least six feet, and the stern, which was broke in pieces and parted from the rest by the force of the sea, soon after I had left ru her, was tossed as it were up, and cast on one side; and the sand was thrown so high on that side next her stern, that whereas there was a great place of water before, so that I could not co I could noalk quite up to her when the tide was out I was surprised with this at first, but soon concluded it must be done by the earthquake; and as by this violence the shi+p was s came daily on shore, which the sea had loosened, and which the winds and water rolled by degrees to the land
This wholly divertedhtily, that day especially, in searching whether I couldwas to be expected of that kind, for all the inside of the shi+p was choked up with sand However, as I had learned not to despair of anything, I resolved to pull everything to pieces that I could of the shi+p, concluding that everything I could get from her would be of soan with ht held soether, and when I had cut it through, I cleared away the sand as well as I could fro in, I was obliged to give over for that tiht not one fish that I durst eat of, till I eary ofdolphin I hadline of soht fish enough, as much as I cared to eat; all which I dried in the sun, and ate them dry
MAY 5 - Worked on the wreck; cut another beareat fir planks off froether, and made to float on shore when the tide of flood caot several iron bolts out of her and other pieces of ironwork Worked very hard, and ca it over
MAY 7 - Went to the wreck again, not with an intent to work, but found the weight of the wreck had broke itself down, the bea cut; that several pieces of the shi+p seemed to lie loose, and the inside of the hold lay so open that I could see into it; but it was almost full of water and sand
MAY 8 - Went to the wreck, and carried an iron crorench up the deck, which lay now quite clear of the water or sand I wrenched open two planks, and brought them on shore also with the tide I left the iron crow in the wreck for next day
MAY 9 - Went to the wreck, and with the crow made way into the body of the wreck, and felt several casks, and loosened them with the crow, but could not break thelish lead, and could stir it, but it was too heavy to reot a great many pieces of tiht of iron
MAY 15 - I carried two hatchets, to try if I could not cut a piece off the roll of lead by placing the edge of one hatchet and driving it with the other; but as it lay about a foot and a half in the water, I could not make any blow to drive the hatchet
MAY 16 - It had blown hard in the night, and the wreck appearedin the woods, to get pigeons for food, that the tide preventedto the wreck that day
MAY 17 - I saw soreat distance, near two miles off me, but resolved to see what they were, and found it was a piece of the head, but too heavy foraway
MAY 24 - Every day, to this day, I worked on the wreck; and with hard labour I loosened so tide several casks floated out, and two of the sea cashead, which had some Brazil pork in it; but the salt water and the sand had spoiled it I continued this work every day to the 15th of June, except the ti this part of ht be ready when it was ebbed out; and by this tih to have built a good boat, if I had kno; and also I got, at several tiht of the sheet lead