ROMANCES AND NARRATIVES BY
DANIEL DEFOE

EDITED BY GEORGE A. AITKEN

IN SIXTEEN VOLUMES
VOL. VI

CAPTAIN SINGLETON

First Edition 1895
Second Edition 1900
Third Edition 1904

Life, Adven-
tures, &f Piracies of
the Famous CAPTAIN
SINGLETON * * * By

DANIEL DEFOE

Edited by GEORGE A. AITKEN

with

Illustrations by J. B. YEATS

LONDON * * * * Published by
J. M DENT & CO, Aldine House
29 fc? 30 Bedford Street, W.C.

MDCCCCIV

$

jyoV

C35^
/?D/

875006

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

WE FOUND THE WATER FRESH AND PLEA
SANT TO DRINK .... Frontispiece
LASHING THE SHIP'S BOWSPRIT FAST TO

OUR MAINMAST .... Page 1 73
KEPT A LITTLE SHOP IN THE MlNORIES . ., 31 I

INTRODUCTION.

A FORTNIGHT after the appearance of the
f\ " Memoirs of a Cavalier," Defoe published, on
the 4th of June 1720, "The Life, Adventures,
and Piracies of the famous Captain Singleton : con
taining an account of his being set on shore in the Island
of Madagascar, his settlement there, with a description
of the place and inhabitants ; of his passage from thence
in a paraguay [j/V] to the mainland of Africa, with an
account of the customs and manners of the people : his
great deliverances from the barbarous natives and wild
beasts : of his meeting with an Englishman, a citizen
of London, amongst the Indians. The great riches he
acquired, and his voyage home to England. As also
Captain Singleton's return to sea, with an account of
his many adventures, and piracies with the famous
Captain Avery, and others." The story thus set forth
was reprinted in successive numbers of the Exeter
Post Master or Loyal Mercury, beginning with Nov.
4, 1720, and the book was reissued in September
1721, by Nathaniel Mist, who had probably bought
the remainder. The real second edition which con
tained many verbal alterations was not published until
1737, after Defoe's death; and the third edition is
dated 1768. Mr. H. H. Sparling made the story

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

better known by editing it for the Camelot Classics, in
1887 ; it is now reprinted for the first time in accord
ance with the only edition published in Defoe's life
time.

Defoe had already written a pamphlet upon Captain
Avery's exploits (Dec. 1719); and it is probable
that " Captain Singleton " was composed about the
same time. It is an admirable tale of adventure,
and is very entertaining; but it is on a lower level
than " Robinson Crusoe " or " The Journal of the
Plague Year." It lacks something of the unity of
purpose and the high tone of those masterpieces, and
the hero is a man so entirely wanting in principle that
it is difficult to take much interest in him. Yet the
story is made eminently readable by the author's powers
of invention, and it contains one character, that of the
Quaker William, which is among the best that Defoe
created. The book abounds, it may be added, in the
author's favourite words and phrases, and hasty com
position is shown by the frequency with which sentence*
begin with the familiar " However." " Frighted " and
" to fright " are of constant occurrence, and on one page
(p. 87) we find " frighted creatures," " frighted them,"
and "they were so frighted," besides "the fright."

Bob Singleton was stolen from a nursemaid while
he was a baby, and sold to a gipsy woman, by whom
he was named. The gipsy happening to be hanged,
Singleton was cast upon the parish ; and at the age
of twelve he was sent to sea. After three or four
voyages he was taken prisoner by an Algerine rover
(1695), and was ill-used by the Turks ; but the rover
was in its turn captured by the Portuguese. At
Lisbon, Singleton agreed to be cabin-boy on a voyage
to the East Indies. He began to steal, and learned
everything that was wicked among the Portuguese.
He had never heard much of virtue or religion ; yet

INTRODUCTION. IX

he felt abhorrence of the vileness of his associates.
At Goa he escaped the Inquisition by becoming a
Roman Catholic ; and at Madagascar he promoted a
mutiny among the crew, and was left on shore with
twenty-seven of the men. Singleton was then seven
teen or eighteen. After various adventures on the
island, the men made a vessel out of a wreck which
they found, and managed to reach the continent of
Africa, after a voyage of twenty-four days. They
then " took one of the rashest and wildest and most
desperate resolutions that was ever taken by man, or
any number of men, in the world," viz., to travel from
Mozambique to Angola or Guinea, through a " dark
continent " of at least 1 800 miles.

Of this wondrous journey I shall have to speak again ;
here it is enough to say that Singleton, after gaining
much treasure, reached the Gold Coast, and obtained a
passage thence to England, where he fell into bad com
pany and lost all his money in two years. He then
joined a vessel sailing for Cadiz, and took part, but
without success, in a plot to seize the ship. His fellow-
conspirators on another vessel secured their prize, and the
whole party set sail, Singleton being made a lieutenant.
When a Spanish sloop was captured, some of the crew
manned it, and for two years the pirates in both vessels
were busily occupied. Singleton then took command
of a frigate, and one of his comrades was a ' very
merry fellow " named William Walters, a Quaker and
surgeon, who had been taken on board a prize, and
was not unwilling to accompany Singleton if it was
represented that he was carried away by force. The
privateers met at Madagascar, where they found the
redoubtable pirate, Captain Avery ; and there Single
ton had a difference with his colleague Wilmot, who
left him and took away all the spoil. Singleton, how
ever, had a ship of forty-four guns, besides a sloop, and

X INTRODUCTION.

he decided to imitate A very' s exploits in the Eastern
seas.

In the course of their adventures, William met
with a Japanese priest, who said there were in his
country thirteen Englishmen ; they had been wrecked
on their way from Greenland and the North Pole.
This amazed the pirates, who knew of the infinite
attempts made to discover a North- West passage ; but
when they inquired again for the priest at Formosa,
they found that his ship had sailed. " This put an
end to our inquiry after them, and perhaps may have
disappointed mankind of one of the most noble dis
coveries that ever was made, or will again be made,
in the world, for the good of mankind in general ; but
so much for that."

The pirates had now made so much money that
they determined to go homewards. After further
adventures William and Singleton left the ship at
Surat, ostensibly with the object of trading to Bassorah,
but in reality without any intention of rejoining their
comrades. Having got away, by a trick, with a great
quantity of valuable property, Singleton's conscience
at length began to trouble him thanks to William's
admonitions and he felt little satisfaction in the
possession of his riches. By the use of disguises
Singleton and William reached Europe, and William
entered into correspondence with a sister, a widow
with four children, who kept a little shop in the
Minories. They sent some of their money to her,
but were so burdened with fears that they delayed
their return to England for a further period of two
years. At length, however, they came to London,
and Singleton, having married William's sister, lived
in retirement, and was, he says, much happier than
he deserved.

Such, in brief, was Singleton's life. The two

INTRODUCTION. XI

matters of greatest interest in the book the journey
across Africa, and the character of the Quaker William
demand a somewhat fuller notice.

It has been said that Defoe anticipated in " Captain
Singleton" the most striking of the discoveries made
in Central Africa in recent years, and there has been
much discussion as to whether the particulars he gives
are the result of his imagination, or of the study of
the experiences of some traveller or travellers whose
existence has been forgotten. The whole question was
gone into fully by the late Professor Minto in Mac-
millans Magazine for October 1878, and the account
which follows is based chiefly upon that paper.

Singleton landed at a point 12 35' south of the
equator ; and his journey across Africa began some
fifty miles further north, where, he says, the river
Quilloa joined the sea. After following this river about
200 miles, the party came to the first of a series of great
cataracts, which are, it is said, much like the cataracts
on East African rivers. The first cataract might be
the Victoria Falls on the Zambesi, and the cataracts
higher up resemble those on the Shire. Defoe may
have heard particulars of these falls, or he may have
come across some one who was acquainted with the
river Rufiji, of which so little is known even now.
After travelling westward about 700 miles, Singleton
came to a high ridge of mountains, and beyond that
to a gloomy desert. On the ninth day's journey across
this wilderness a great lake was sighted, and next
day they reached the southern point of this lake, and
travelled three days by the side of it. If a line is
drawn on a modern map due west from the mouth
of the Rufiji (which seems to be the river known to
old geographers as the Quilloa), we are brought to
the south point of the Lake Tanganyika, of whose
existence and position Defoe thus appears to have

Xil INTRODUCTION.

been aware. But if we turn to seventeenth-century
maps such as Dapper's, which is reproduced in
Stanley's " Through the Dark Continent " we shall
find many things indicated which are not represented
on the maps of the earlier half of this century, and
among them is a Lake Zafflan, whose southern extremity
was represented as being in the same latitude as the
river Quilloa. Defoe, then, so far as regards this
lake, was merely repeating the common knowledge of
his time knowledge based, no doubt, on the travels
of Portuguese traders or Arab slave-dealers. The
ancients had some inkling of great lakes Zafflan,
and Zembre or Zaire in Central Africa,* and it
was not until 1700 that the geographer Guillaume
Delisle removed them from the map. From then
until the days of Speke, Grant, and Livingstone, it
was assumed that the details on the old maps were
the result of imagination ; explorers have since been
engaged in ascertaining what element of truth there
was in the old traditions.

Before proceeding with Singleton's journey, it is
necessary to say that the mouth of the Quilloa was,
according to seventeenth-century maps, in 8 south
latitude, not a few miles only north of 12 35'. The
place now known as Kiloa is in about 9 south lati
tude. The arguments given above are based on the
assumption that the journey began where the Quilloa
actually joined the ocean. If we supposed the party to
start at the latitude given by Defoe, or even as far

* See Dr Birdwood's paper in the " Journal " of the Bombay
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 7, 1865 ; papers by
M. L. Cordeiro in vol. 2 of the "Bulletin" of the Lyons
Geographical Society (1879) ; and Mr Cooley's papers in the
" Journal" of the Royal Geographical Society, vols. 16 and 17.
Defoe was acquainted with the hints of a great lake in Don
Santos's " Ethiopia Oriental," of which there is an abridgment
in Purchas's " Pilgrims."

V

INTRODUCTION. Xlll

north as 1 1 , where the river Rovuma enters the sea, we
should have to conclude that the first great lake they
saw was Nyassa, and not Tanganyika. This, how
ever, could hardly be the case, because Defoe expressly
says that Singleton came upon the lake at its southern
extremity, and the southern end of Lake Nyassa is
too far south to agree with what we are told. More
over, the existence of Lake Nyassa seems to have
been quite unknown to the old map-makers, whom
Defoe undoubtedly consulted.

Nineteen days after passing the great lake, the
party, travelling due west, came to a ridge of hills,
beyond which was a green country (noo miles from
the coast), and a rapid river which they called the
Golden River. This river, which may have been the
Lualaba, the beginning of the Congo, ran northward,
and the gunner thought it was the Nile, or that it ran
into the great lake out of which the Nile was said
to take its rise. When they resumed their journey,
they went westwards for ten days, travelling twenty
to twenty-five miles a day, until they came to some
hills. Beyond all seemed to be water, and when they
reached the shore they found the water was fresh.
Turning northwards, they travelled for twenty-three
days, until they saw land on the other side of the
water, and after a further journey of eight days they
found that this great sea, or lake, ended in a great
river, running north, or north by east. Hereupon
the gunner said that this, and not the river already
mentioned, must be the Nile. When they had crossed
this river they were in 6 22' south latitude, and had
travelled 1000 miles without meeting any people.

After passing the river, Singleton met with negroes
who informed him that he must turn northwards, be
cause another lake was in the way. In two days they
were in sight of this lake, which forced them to travel

XIV INTRODUCTION.

northwards until they passed the line. The gunner
said that when they had rounded this lake they ought
to incline a little to the south, when they would reach
the great river Congo. Was Defoe, then, aware of
the Victoria Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza, and of
the fact that the Congo runs north of the line a
fact first established in our time by Stanley's journey
through Africa in 1877 ?

Singleton did not reach the Congo, because a great
desert forced him to turn northwards, thus gaining
the sea in due time at the Gold Coast ; but the
gunner, who was a Portuguese, was correct as regards
the course of the great river. Defoe makes the party
travel 1 300 miles westwards from a point on the coast
12 35' south latitude, before arriving at their second
great lake. This point is 1000 miles from the
Victoria Nyanza, but it corresponds with the Lake
Zaire of the old geographers. Defoe's lake, then,
is simply the Lake Zaire which is found on all the
seventeenth-century maps, and which is shown in
Dapper as the source of the Nile. Defoe places
another lake across the line, which is not on the old
maps, and no such lake has been found in the longi
tude suggested. The old authorities usually show the
Congo as flowing in a nearly straight line from Lake
Zaire or Zembre to the ocean ; but in an article
in Nature for June 6, 1878, it is stated that on a
Spanish globe of 1530 or 1540 in the Bibliotheque
Nationale at Paris the course of the Congo is shown
in a manner very similar to what Stanley found it
to be, and to what Defoe suggests. The Portuguese
had settlements on both the east and west coasts, and
their traders probably penetrated for some considerable
distance into the interior in each direction, but knew
little of the central regions. The old map-makers
were very credulous, and freely inserted " elephants for

INTRODUCTION. XV

want of towns ; " it was therefore well to have a
blank in place of the legendary or conjectural lakes,
until trustworthy explorers could find out the truth
about this mysterious continent.

In this account of Singleton's journey nothing has
been said of the wondrous details which give life and
verisimilitude to Defoe's narrative. We read with deep
interest of great herds of elephants, of their teeth, of
the discovery and search for gold on the Golden River,
of the manner in which the camp was attacked by and
protected against ravenous creatures, tigers, lions, and a
beast "of an ill-gendered kind, between a tiger and a
leopard." Later on, there is the discovery among the
negroes of an Englishman who had been captured,
but had, after making his escape, met with a friendly
tribe, with whom he lived in a savage state. This man
became guide to the party, and enabled them to acquire
great wealth in gold and ivory ; but his own share having
been afterwards lost through the capture by the French
of the ship by which the treasure was sent to Europe,
he died of grief at a Dutch factory on the Gold Coast.
With all this, there are accounts of dreary deserts and
frightful forests, and hints of many " very remarkable
incidents " among the savages, including the restoration
of a negro prince to his kingdom, "which, perhaps, might
contain three hundred subjects." An account of these
matters, as Defoe makes Singleton say of the lonely
Englishman's experiences, " would indeed be, in itself,
the subject of an agreeable history, and would be as long
and as diverting as our own, having in it many strange
and extraordinary incidents ; but we cannot have room
here to launch out into so long a digression."

Defoe had not improbably studied De Flacourt's
Histoire de Madagascar (1661), and Ogilby's "De
scription of Africa" (1670), an English version of
the work by Dapper, whose map has been already

XVI INTRODUCTION.

mentioned. Henry Kingsley suggested that Defoe
had read of Robert Everard's adventures in Mada
gascar, and that they formed the nucleus of the whole
story ; but Everard's " Relation of Three Years' Suf
ferings " seems to have been printed for the first time
in Churchill's " Collections of Voyages," published in
1732, after Defoe's death; and I cannot find in this
' Relation " anything which was used by Defoe. In
the latter part of " Captain Singleton " there is a long
account of Captain Robert Knox's captivity in Ceylon,
taken from Knox's " Historical Relation of the Island
of Ceylon" (1681), a book which was in Defoe's
library. The portion of the work which is of interest
to readers of " Captain Singleton " has been reprinted
in full in the first volume of Prof. Arber's " English
Garner."

It remains to say a word of William the Quaker.
"He was," says Singleton, "a comic fellow indeed,
a man of very good solid sense, and an excellent sur
geon ; but what was worth all, very good-humoured
and pleasant in his conversation, and a bold, stout
fellow too, as any we had among us." It is William
who lends the chief interest to the second half of
Singleton's adventures ; his advice was invaluable to
the pirates, though they sometimes resented at first
the "dry rubs" which this "gibing creature" gave
them. When necessity called, William did not
hesitate to help in securing a prize, though the shot
flew thick about his head ; and when the enemy was
disabled he would come up to Singleton, saying very
calmly, " Friend, what dost thou mean ? Why dost
thou not visit thy neighbour in the ship, the door being
open for thee ? " Yet he " did not care for directing
us neither;" whether for conscience' sake or from
prudential motives, Singleton could not at first deter
mine. William was an excellent man of business, and

INTRODUCTION. XVII

could upon occasion dispose of a ship-load of negroes
at good prices by telling " a very plausible tale ; " but
he always proceeded on the supposition that his acts
were done under compulsion, and he was always in
favour of gaining the end desired, if possible, without
fighting.

After much conversation with William, at whose
tears his comrade laughed for some time, Singleton
was brought to think of the future, and of the need
of repentance. The pirate said, very naturally, that
he was at home where he was ; he had no friends.
" I came out of England a child, and never was in it
but once since I was a man ; and then I was cheated
and imposed upon, and used so ill that I care not if I
never see it more." But before long William per
suaded Singleton to break off his " wretched course,"
as a first step towards reformation, and this resolve
caused William to be " so swallowed up with joy he
could not speak." Singleton's conscience was now
troubled at the manner in which his wealth had been
obtained, and it became like dirt under his feet. In
this emergency William's prudence enabled him to
take the steps which were necessary to preserve their
effects, and even themselves. He was " a wise and
wary man," and he quieted Singleton's doubts and
fears of the vengeance of Heaven by pointing out
that they could not restore their wealth to its rightful
owners, and that their proper course, therefore, was
" to keep it carefully together, with a resolution to do
what right with it " might be possible. Singleton had
always Jed a vagrant life, and William was all the
comfort he had. He naturally knew little of religion ;
" I was little Bob of Bussleton, and went to school to
learn my Testament. However, it pleased God to
make William the Quaker everything to me." The
story is certainly not wanting in pathos, and perhaps

XV111 INTRODUCTION.

too much has been made by the critics of the sudden
ness of Singleton's reformation, after he had become
rich. The influence of William the first Christian
with whom he had conversed would naturally be
very great upon a man who had had so few advantages.
Those who have spoken of William as "a professed
Quaker," by way of explaining any improbability, as
Lee says, in Singleton's connection with one of that
body, have missed a great part of Defoe's meaning.
It is true that William was a pirate, distinguished by
the worldly wisdom which has never been unusual
among Quakers; but there can be no doubt of the
genuineness of his religion, and of the beneficent in
fluence which he exercised over Singleton.

CAPTAIN SINGLETON

THE

LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES

OF

CAPTAIN SINGLETON

AS it is usual for great persons, whose lives have been
J~\ remarkable, and whose actions deserve recording
to posterity, to insist much upon their originals,
give full accounts of their families, and the histories
of their ancestors, so, that I may be methodical, I
shall do the same, though I can look but a very little
way into my pedigree, as you will see presently.

If I may believe the woman whom I was taught
to call mother, I was a little boy, of about two years
old, very well dressed, had a nursery-maid to attend
me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening into
the fields towards Islington, as she pretended, to give
the child some air ; a little girl being with her, of
twelve or fourteen years old, that lived in the neigh
bourhood. The maid, whether by appointment or
otherwise, meets with a fellow, her sweetheart, as I
suppose ; he carries her into a public-house, to give
her a pot and a cake ; and while they were toying in
the house the girl plays about, with me in her hand,

A

2 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

in the garden and at the door, sometimes in sight,
sometimes out of sight, thinking no harm.

At this juncture comes by one of those sort of people
who, it seems, made it their business to spirit away
little children. This was a hellish trade in those
days, and chiefly practised where they found little
children very well dressed, or for bigger children, to
sell them to the plantations.

The woman, pretending to take me up in her arms
and kiss me, and play with me, draws the girl a good
way from the house, till at last she makes a fine story
to the girl, and bids her go back to the maid, and tell
her where she was with the child ; that a gentlewoman
had taken a fancy to the child, and was kissing of it,
but she should not be frighted, or to that purpose ; for
they were but just there ; and so, while the girl went,
she carries me quite away.

From this time, it seems, I was disposed of to a
beggar woman that wanted a pretty little child to set
out her case ; and after that, to a gipsy, under whose
government I continued till I was about six years old.
And this woman, though I was continually dragged
about with her from one part of the country to another,
yet never let me want for anything ; and I called her
mother ; though she told me at last she was not my
mother, but that she bought me for twelve shillings of
another woman, who told her how she came by me,
and told her that my name was Bob Singleton, not
Robert, but plain Bob ; for it seems they never knew
by what name I was christened.

It is in vain to reflect here, what a terrible fright
the careless hussy was in that lost me; what treat
ment she received from my justly enraged father and
mother, and the horror these must be in at the thoughts
of their child being thus carried away ; for as I never
knew anything of the matter, but just what I have

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 3

related, nor who my father and mother were, so it
would make but a needless digression to talk of it
here.

My good gipsy mother, for some of her worthy
actions no doubt, happened in process of time to be
hanged ; and as this fell out something too soon for
me to be perfected in the strolling trade, the parish
where I was left, which for my life I can't remember,
took some care of me, to be sure ; for the first thing
I can remember of myself afterwards, was, that I went
to a parish school, and the minister of the parish used
to talk to me to be a good boy ; and that, though
I was but a poor boy, if I minded my book, and
served God, I might make a good man.

I believe I was frequently removed from one town
to another, perhaps as the parishes disputed my supposed
mother's last settlement. Whether I was so shifted
by passes, or otherwise, I know not ; but the town
where I last was kept, whatever its name was, must be
not far off from the seaside ; for a master of a ship
who took a fancy to me, was the first that brought
me to a place not far from Southampton, which I
afterwards knew to be Bussleton ; and there I attended
the carpenters, and such people as were employed in
building a ship for him ; and when it was done,
though I was not above twelve years old, he carried
me to sea with him on a voyage to Newfoundland.

I lived well enough, and pleased my master so well
that he called me his own boy; and I would have
called him father, but he would not allow it, for he
had children of his own. I went three or four
voyages with him, and grew a great sturdy boy, when,
coming home again from the banks of Newfoundland,
we were taken by an Algerine rover, or man-of-war ;
which, if my account stands right, was about the year
1695, for you may be sure I kept no journal.

4 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

I was not much concerned at the disaster, though
I saw my master, after having been wounded by a
splinter in the head during the engagement, very
barbarously used by the Turks ; I say, I was not
much concerned, till, upon some unlucky thing I said,
which, as I remember, was about abusing my master,
they took me and beat me most unmercifully with a
flat stick on the soles of my feet, so that I could
neither go or stand for several days together.

But my good fortune was my friend upon this
occasion ; for, as they were sailing away with our ship
in tow as a prize, steering for the Straits, and in sight
of the bay of Cadiz, the Turkish rover was attacked
by two great Portuguese men-of-war, and taken and
carried into Lisbon.

As I was not much concerned at my captivity, not
indeed understanding the consequences of it, if it had
continued, so I was not suitably sensible of my deli
verance ; nor, indeed, was it so much a deliverance
to me as it would otherwise have been, for my roaster,
who was the only friend I had in the world, died at
Lisbon of his wounds ; and I being then almost re
duced to my primitive state, viz., of starving, had this
addition to it, that it was in a foreign country too,
where I knew nobody and could not speak a word of
their language. However, I fared better here than I
had reason to expect ; for when all the rest of our
men had their liberty to go where they would, I, that
knew not whither to go, stayed in the ship for several
days, till at length one of the lieutenants seeing me,
inquired what that young English dog did there, and
why they did not turn him on shore.

I heard him, and partly understood what he meant,
though not what he said, and began then to be in a
terrible fright ; for I knew not where to get a bit of
bread ; when the pilot of the ship, an old seaman,

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 5

seeing me look very dull, came to me, and speak
ing broken English to me, told me I must be gone.
" Whither must I go ? " said I. " Where you will,"
said he, " home to your own country, if you will."
" How must I go thither ? " said I. " Why, have
you no friend ? " said he. " No/' said I, " not in the
world, but that dog," pointing to the ship's dog (who,
having stolen a piece of meat just before, had brought
it close by me, and I had taken it from him, and ate
it), "for he has been a good friend, and brought me
my dinner."

"Well, well," says he, "you must have your
dinner. Will you go with me ? " " Yes," says I,
" with all my heart." In short, the old pilot took me
home with him, and used me tolerably well, though
I fared hard enough ; and I lived with him about two
years, during which time he was soliciting his business,
and at length got to be master or pilot under Don
Garcia de Pimentesia de Carravallas, captain of a
Portuguese galleon or carrack, which was bound to
Goa, in the East Indies ; and immediately having
gotten his commission, put me on board to look after
his cabin, in which he had stored himself with
abundance of liquors, succades, sugar, spices, and other
things, for his accommodation in the voyage, and laid in
afterwards a considerable quantity of European goods,
fine lace and linen; and also baize, woollen cloth,
stuffs, &c., under the pretence of his clothes.

I was too young in the trade to keep any journal
of this voyage, though my master, who was, for a
Portuguese, a pretty good artist, prompted me to it ;
but my not understanding the language was one hin
drance ; at least it served me for an excuse. How
ever, after some time, I began to look into his charts
and books ; and, as I could write a tolerable hand,
understood some Latin, and began to have a little

6 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

smattering of the Portuguese tongue, so I began to
get a superficial knowledge of navigation, but not such
as was likely to be sufficient to carry me through a
life of adventure, as mine was to be. In short, I
learned several material things in this voyage among
the Portuguese ; I learned particularly to be an arrant
thief and a bad sailor ; and I think I may say they
are the best masters for teaching both these of any
nation in the world.

We made our way for the East Indies, by the
coast of Brazil ; not that it is in the course of sailing
the way thither, but our captain, either on his own
account, or by the direction of the merchants, went
thither first, where at All Saints' Bay, or, as they call
it in Portugal, the Rio de Todos los Santos, we
delivered near a hundred tons of goods, and took in
a considerable quantity of gold, with some chests of
sugar, and seventy or eighty great rolls of tobacco,
every roll weighing at least a hundredweight.

Here, being lodged on shore by my master's order,
I had the charge of the captain's business, he having
seen me very diligent for my own master ; and in
requital for his mistaken confidence, I found means to
secure, that is to say, to steal, about twenty moidores
out of the gold that was shipped on board by the
merchants, and this was my first adventure.

We had a tolerable voyage from hence to the Cape
de Bona Speranza ; and I was reputed as a mighty
diligent servant to my master, and very faithful. I
was diligent indeed, but I was very far from honest ;
however, they thought me honest, which, by the way,
was their very great mistake. Upon this very mistake
the captain took a particular liking to me, and employed
me frequently on his own occasion ; and, on the other
hand, in recompense for my officious diligence, I
received several particular favours from him ; par-

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 7

ticularly, I was, by the captain's command, made a
kind of a steward under the ship's steward, for such
provisions as the captain demanded for his own table.
He had another steward for his private stores besides,
but my office concerned only what the captain called
for of the ship's stores for his private use.

However, by this means I had opportunity particu
larly to take care of my master's man, and to furnish
myself with sufficient provisions to make me live much
better than the other people in the ship ; for the captain
seldom ordered anything out of the ship's stores, as
above, but I snipt some of it for my own share. We
arrived at Goa, in the East Indies, in about seven
months from Lisbon, and remained there eight more ;
during which time I had indeed nothing to do, my
master being generally on shore, but to learn everything
that is wicked among the Portuguese, a nation the most
perfidious and the most debauched, the most insolent
and cruel, of any that pretend to call themselves Chris
tians, in the world.

Thieving, lying, swearing, forswearing, joined to the
most abominable lewdness, was the stated practice of
the ship's crew ; adding to it, that, with the most in
sufferable boasts of their own courage, they were, gene
rally speaking, the most complete cowards that I ever
met with ; and the consequence of their cowardice was
evident upon many occasions. However, there was
here and there one among them that was not so bad
as the rest ; and, as my lot fell among them, it made
me have the most contemptible thoughts of the rest, as
indeed they deserved.

I was exactly fitted for their society indeed ; for I
had no sense of virtue or religion upon me. I had
never heard much of either, except what a good old
parson had said to me when I was a child of about
eight or nine years old; nay, I was preparing and

8 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

growing up apace to be as wicked as anybody could be,
or perhaps ever was. Fate certainly thus directed my
beginning, knowing that I had work which I had to do
in the world, which nothing but one hardened against
all sense of honesty or religion could go through ; and
yet, even in this state of original wickedness, I enter
tained such a settled abhorrence of the abandoned vile-
ness of the Portuguese, that I could not but hate them
most heartily from the beginning, and all my life after
wards. They were so brutishly wicked, so base and
perfidious, not only to strangers but to one another,
so meanly submissive when subjected, so insolent,
or barbarous and tyrannical, when superior, that I
thought there was something in them that shocked
my very nature. Add to this that it is natural
to an Englishman to hate a coward, it all joined
together to make the devil and a Portuguese equally
my aversion.

However, according to the English proverb, he that
is shipped with the devil must sail with the devil ; I
was among them, and I managed myself as well as I
could. My master had consented that I should assist
the captain in the office, as above ; but, as I understood
afterwards that the captain allowed my master half a
moidore a month for my service, and that he had my
name upon the ship's books also, I expected that when
the ship came to be paid four months' wages at the
Indies, as they, it seems, always do, my master would
let me have something for myself.

But I was wrong in my man, for he was none of
that kind ; he had taken me up as in distress, and his
business was to keep me so, and make his market of
me as well as he could, which I began to think of after
a different manner than I did at first, for at first I thought
he had entertained me in mere charity, upon seeing my
distressed circumstances, but did not doubt but when

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 9

he put me on board the ship, I should have some wages
for my service.

But he thought, it seems, quite otherwise ; and when
I procured one to speak to him about it, when the ship
was paid at Goa, he flew into the greatest rage ima
ginable, and called me English dog, young heretic, and
threatened to put me into the Inquisition. Indeed, of
all the names the four-and-twenty letters could make
up, he should not have called me heretic ; for as I
knew nothing about religion, neither Protestant from
Papist, or either of them from a Mahometan, I could
never be a heretic. However, it passed but a little,
but, as young as I was, I had been carried into the
Inquisition, and there, if they had asked me if I was
a Protestant or a Catholic, I should have said yes to
that which came first. If it had been the Protestant
they had asked first, it had certainly made a martyr of
me for I did not know what.

But the very priest they carried with them, or chap
lain of the ship, as we called him, saved me ; for seeing
me a boy entirely ignorant of religion, and ready to do
or say anything they bid me, he asked me some ques
tions about it, which he found I answered so very
simply, that he took it upon him to tell them he would
answer for my being a good Catholic, and he hoped he
should be the means of saving my soul, and he pleased
himself that it was to be a work of merit to him ; so he
made me as good a Papist as any of them in about a
week's time.

I then told him my case about my master ; how, it
is true, he had taken me up in a miserable case on board
a man-of-war at Lisbon ; and I was indebted to him
for bringing me on board this ship ; that if I had been
left at Lisbon, I might have starved, and the like ; and
therefore I was willing to serve him, but that I hoped
he would give me some little consideration for my

10 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

service, or let me know how long he expected I should
serve him for nothing.

It was all one ; neither the priest nor any one else
could prevail with him, but that I was not his servant
but his slave, that he took me in the Algerine, and that
I was a Turk, only pretended to be an English boy to
get my liberty, and he would carry me to the Inquisi
tion as a Turk.

This frighted me out of my wits, for I had nobody
to vouch for me what I was, or from whence I came ;
but the good Padre Antonio, for that was his name,
cleared me of that part by a way I did not understand ;
for he came to me one morning with two sailors, and
told me they must search me, to bear witness that I was
not a Turk. I was amazed at them, and frighted,
and did not understand them, nor could I imagine what
they intended to do to me. However, stripping me,
they were soon satisfied, and Father Antony bade me
be easy, for they could all witness that I was no Turk.
So I escaped that part of my master's cruelty.

And now I resolved from that time to run away
from him if I could, but there was no doing of it there,
for there were not ships of any nation in the world in
that port, except two or three Persian vessels from
Ormus, so that if I had offered to go away from him,
he would have had me seized on shore, and brought on
board by force ; so that I had no remedy but patience.
And this he brought to an end too as soon as he could,
for after this he began to use me ill, and not only to
straiten my provisions, but to beat and torture me in a
barbarous manner for every trifle, so that, in a word,
my life began to be very miserable.

The violence of this usage of me, and the impos
sibility of my escape from his hands, set my head a-
working upon all sorts of mischief, and in particular I
resolved, after studying all other ways to deliver myself,

>uld

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. II

and finding all ineffectual, I say, I resolved to murder
him. With this hellish resolution in my head, I spent
whole nights and days contriving how to put it in exe
cution, the devil prompting me very warmly to the fact.
I was indeed entirely at a loss for the means, for I had
neither gun or sword, nor any weapon to assault him
with ; poison I had my thoughts much upon, but knew
not where to get any ; or, if I might have got it, I did
not know the country word for it, or by what name to
ask for it.

In this manner I quitted the fact, intentionally, a
hundred and a hundred times ; but Providence, either
for his sake or for mine, always frustrated my designs,
and I could never bring it to pass ; so I was obliged to
continue in his chains till the ship, having taken in
her loading, set sail for Portugal.

I can say nothing here to the manner of our voyage,
for, as I said, I kept no journal ; but this I can give an
account of, that having been once as high as the Cape
of Good Hope, as we call it, or Cabo de Bona Sper-
anza, as they call it, we were driven back again by a
violent storm from the W.S.W., which held us six
days and nights a great way to the eastward, and after
that, standing afore the wind for several days more, we
at last came to an anchor on the coast of Madagascar.

The storm had been so violent that the ship had re
ceived a great deal of damage, and it required some
time to repair her ; so, standing in nearer the shore,
the pilot, my master, brought the ship into a very good
harbour, where we rid in twenty-six fathoms water,
about half a mile from the shore.

While the ship rode here there happened a most des
perate mutiny among the men, upon account of some
deficiency in their allowance, which came to that height
that they threatened the captain to set him on shore, and
go back with the ship to Goa. I wished they would with

12 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

all my heart, for I was full of mischief in my head, and
ready enough to do any. So, though I was but a boy,
as they called me, yet I prompted the mischief all I
could, and embarked in it so openly, that I escaped
very little being hanged in the first and most early part
of my life ; for the captain had some notice that there
was a design laid by some of the company to murder
him ; and having, partly by money and promises, and
partly by threatening and torture, brought two fellows
to confess the particulars, and the names of the persons
concerned, they were presently apprehended, till, one
accusing another, no less than sixteen men were seized
and put into irons, whereof I was one.

The captain, who was made desperate by his danger,
resolving to clear the ship of his enemies, tried us all,
and we were all condemned to die. The manner of
his process I was too young to take notice of ; but the
purser and one of the gunners were hanged immediately,
and I expected it with the rest. I do not remember
any great concern I was under about it, only that I
cried very much, for I knew little then of this world,
and nothing at all of the next.

However, the captain contented himself with exe
cuting these two, and some of the rest, upon their
humble submission and promise of future good be
haviour, were pardoned ; but five were ordered to be
set on shore on the island and left there, of which I
was one. My master used all his interest with the
captain to have me excused, but could not obtain it ;
for somebody having told him that I was one of them
who was singled out to have killed him, when my
master desired I might not be set on shore, the captain
told him I should stay on board if he desired it, but
then I should be hanged, so he might choose for me
which he thought best. The captain, it seems, was
particularly provoked at my being concerned in the

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 13

treachery, because of his having been so kind to me, and
of his having singled me out to serve him, as I have
said above ; and this, perhaps, obliged him to give my
master such a rough choice, either to set me on shore
or to have me hanged on board. And had my master,
indeed, known what good- will I had for him, he would
not have been long in choosing for me; for I had
certainly determined to do him a mischief the first
opportunity I had for it. This was, therefore, a good
providence for me to keep me from dipping my hands
in blood, and it made me more tender afterwards in
matters of blood than I believe I should otherwise
have been. But as to my being one of them that was
to kill the captain, that I was wronged in, for I was
not the person, but it was really one of them that were
pardoned, he having the good luck not to have that
part discovered.

I was now to enter upon a part of independent life,
a thing I was indeed very ill prepared to manage, for
I was perfectly loose and dissolute in my behaviour,
bold and wicked while I was under government, and
now perfectly unfit to be trusted with liberty, for I
was as ripe for any villainy as a young fellow that had
no solid thought ever placed in his mind could be sup
posed to be. Education, as you have heard, I had none ;
and all the little scenes of life I had passed through
had been full of dangers and desperate circumstances ;
but I was either so young or so stupid, that I escaped
the grief and anxiety of them, for want of having a
sense of their tendency and consequences.

This thoughtless, unconcerned temper had one felicity
indeed in it, that it made me daring and ready for doing
any mischief, and kept off the sorrow which otherwise
ought to have attended me when I fell into any mis
chief ; that this stupidity was instead of a happiness to
me, for it left my thoughts free to act upon means of

14 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

escape and deliverance in my distress, however great it
might be ; whereas my companions in the misery were
so sunk by their fear and grief, that they abandoned
themselves to the misery of their condition, and gave
over all thought but of their perishing and starving,
being devoured by wild beasts, murdered, and perhaps
eaten by cannibals, and the like.

I was but a young fellow, about seventeen or eighteen ;
but hearing what was to be my fate, I received it with
no appearance of discouragement ; but I asked what
my master said to it, and being told that he had used
his utmost interest to save me, but the captain had
answered I should either go on shore or be hanged on
board, which he pleased, I then gave over all hope of
being received again. I was not very thankful in my
thoughts to my master for his soliciting the captain for
me, because I knew that what he did was not in kind
ness to me so much as in kindness to himself; I mean,
to preserve the wages which he got for me, which
amounted to above six dollars a month, including what
the captain allowed him for my particular service to
him.

When I understood that my master was so appa
rently kind, I asked if I might not be admitted to
speak with him, and they told me I might, if my master
would come down to me, but I could not be allowed
to come up to him ; so then I desired my master might
be spoke to to come to me, and he accordingly came
to me. I fell on my knees to him, and begged he
would forgive me what I had done to displease him ;
and indeed the resolution I had taken to murder him
Jay with some horror upon my mind just at that time,
so that I was once just a-going to confess it, and beg
him to forgive me, but I kept it in. He told me he
had done all he could to obtain my pardon of the cap
tain, but could not ; and he knew no way for me but

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 15

to have patience, and submit to my fate ; and if they
came to speak with any ship of their nation at the
Cape, he would endeavour to have them stand in, and
fetch us off again, if we might be found.

Then I begged I might have my clothes on shore
with me. He told me he was afraid I should have
little need of clothes, for he did not see how we could
long subsist on the island, and that he had been told
that the inhabitants were cannibals or men-eaters
(though he had no reason for that suggestion), and
we should not be able to live among them. I told
him I was not so afraid of that as I was of starving
for want of victuals ; and as for the inhabitants being
cannibals, I believed we should be more likely to eat
them than they us, if we could but get at them. But
I was mightily concerned, I said, we should have no
weapons with us to defend ourselves, and I begged
nothing now, but that he would give me a gun and a
sword, with a little powder and shot.

He smiled, and said they would signify nothing to
us, for it was impossible for us to pretend to preserve
our lives- among such a populous and desperate nation
as the people of this island were. I told him that,
however, it would do us this good, for we should not
be devoured or destroyed immediately; so I begged
hard for the gun. At last he told me he did not
know whether the captain would give him leave to
give me a gun, and if not, he durst not do it ; but he
promised to use his interest to obtain it for me, which
he did, and the next day he sent me a gun, with some
ammunition, but told me the captain would not suffer
the ammunition to be given us till we were set all on
shore, and till he was just going to set sail. He also
sent me the few clothes I had in the ship, which
indeed were not many.

Two days after this, we were all carried on shore

1 6 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

together; the rest of my fellow-criminals hearing I
had a gun, and some powder and phot, solicited for
liberty to carry the like with them, which was also
granted them ; and thus we were set on shore to shift
for ourselves.

At our first coming into the island we were terrified
exceedingly with the sight of the barbarous people,
whose figure was made more terrible to us than it
really was by the report we had of them from the
seamen ; but when we came to converse with them
awhile, we found they were not cannibals, as was
reported, or such as would fall immediately upon us
and eat us up ; but they came and sat down by us,
and wondered much at our clothes and arms, and
made signs to give us some victuals, such as they had,
which was only roots and plants dug out of the ground
for the present, but they brought us fowls and flesh
afterwards in good plenty.

This encouraged the other four men that were with
me very much, for they were quite dejected before ;
but now they began to be very familiar with them,
and made signs, that if they would use us kindly, we
would stay and live with them ; which they seemed
glad of, though they knew little of the necessity we were
under to do so, or how much we were afraid of them.

However, upon second thoughts we resolved that
we would only stay in that part so long as the ship
rid in the bay, and then making them believe we were
gone with the ship, we would go and place ourselves,
if possible, where there were no inhabitants to be seen,
and so live as we could, or perhaps watch for a ship
that might be driven upon the coast as we were.

The ship continued a fortnight in the roads, re
pairing some damage which had been done her in the
late storm, and taking in wood and water ; and during
this time, the boat coming often on shore, the men

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 17

brought us several refreshments, and the natives be
lieving we only belonged to the ship, were civil
enough. We lived in a kind of a tent on the shore,
or rather a hut, which we made with the boughs of
trees, and sometimes in the night retired to a wood a
little out of their way, to let them think we were gone
on board the ship. However, we found them bar
barous, treacherous, and villainous enough in their
nature, only civil from fear, and therefore concluded
we should soon fall into their hands when the ship was
gone.

The sense of this wrought upon my fellow-sufferers
even to distraction ; and one of them, being a carpenter,
in his mad fit, swam off to the ship in the night, though
she lay then a league to sea, and made such pitiful
moan to be taken in, that the captain was prevailed
with at last to take him in, though they let him lie
swimming three hours in the water before he con
sented to it.

Upon this, and his humble submission, the captain
received him, and, in a word, the importunity of this
man (who for some time petitioned to be taken in,
though they hanged him as soon as they had him) was
such as could not be resisted ; for, after he had swam
so long about the ship, he was not able to reach the
shore again ; and the captain saw evidently that the
man must be taken on board or suffered to drown,
and the whole ship's company offering to be bound
for him for his good behaviour, the captain at last
yielded, and he was taken up, but almost dead with
his being so long in the water.

When this man was got in, he never left impor
tuning the captain, and all the rest of the officers,
in behalf of us that were behind, but to the very
last day the captain was inexorable ; when, at the
time their preparations were making to sail, and orders

B

1 8 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

given to hoist the boats into the ship, all the seamen
in a body came up to the rail of the quarter-deck,
where the captain was walking with some of his
officers, and appointing the boatswain to speak for
them, he went up, and falling on his knees to the cap
tain, begged of him, in the humblest manner possible,
to receive the four men on board again, offering to
answer for their fidelity, or to have them kept in
chains till they came to Lisbon, and there to be de
livered up to justice, rather than, as they said, to have
them left to be murdered by savages, or devoured by
wild beasts. It was a great while ere the captain took
any notice of them, but when he did, he ordered the
boatswain to be seized, and threatened to bring him to
the capstan for speaking for themi

Upon this severity, one of the seamen, bolder than
the rest, but still wjth all possible respect to the cap
tain, besought his honour, as he called him, that he
would give leave to some more of them to go on
shore, and die with their companions, or, if possible,
to assist them to resist the barbarians. The captain,
rather provoked than cowed with this, came to the
barricade of the quarter-deck, and speaking very
prudently to the men (for had he spoken roughly,
two-thirds of them would have left the ship, if not
all of them), he told them, it was for their safety as
well as his own that he had been obliged to that
severity ; that mutiny on board a ship was the same
thing as treason in a king's palace, and he could not
answer it to his owners and employers to trust the
ship and goods committed to his charge with men
who had entertained thoughts of the worst and blackest
nature ; that he wished heartily that it had been any
where else that they had been set oa shore, where they
might have been in less hazard from the savages ; that,
if he had designed they should be destroyed, he could

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 1 9

as well have executed them on board as the other two ;
that he wished it had "been in some other part of the
world, where he might have delivered them up to the
civil justice, or might have left them among Christians ;
but it was better their lives were put in hazard than
his life, and the safety of the ship ; and that though
he did not know that he had deserved so ill of any
of them as that they should leave the ship rather than
do their duty, yet if any of them were resolved to do
so unless he would consent to take a gang of traitors
on board, who, as he had proved before them all, had
conspired to murder him, he would not hinder them,
nor for the present would he resent their importunity ;
but, if there was nobody left in the ship but himself,
he would never consent to take them on board.

This discourse was delivered so well, was in itself
so reasonable, was managed with so much temper, yet
so boldly concluded with a negative, that the greatest
part of the men were satisfied for the present. How
ever, as it put the men into juntos and cabals, they
were not composed for some hours ; the wind also
slackening towards night, the captain ordered not to
weigh till next morning.

The same night twenty-three of the men, among
whom was the gunner's mate, the surgeon's assistant,
and two carpenters, applying to the chief mate told
him, that as the captain had given them leave to go on
shore to their comrades, they begged that he would
speak to the captain not to take it ill that they were
desirous to go and die with their companions ; and
that they thought they could do no less in such an
extremity than go to them ; because, if there was
any way to save their lives, it was by adding to their
numbers, and making them strong enough to assist one
another in defending themselves against the savages,
till perhaps they might one time or other find means

20 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

to make their escape, and get to their own country
again.

The mate told them, in so many words, that he
durst not speak to the captain upon any such design,
and was very sorry they had no more respect for him
than to desire him to go upon such an errand ; but, if
they were resolved upon such an enterprise, he would
advise them to take the long-boat in the morning be
times, and go off, seeing the captain had given them
leave, and leave a civil letter behind them to the cap
tain, and to desire him to send his men on shore for
the boat, which should be delivered very honestly, and
he promised to keep their counsel so long.

Accordingly, an hour before day, those twenty-
three men, with every man a firelock and a cutlass,
with some pistols, three halberds or half-pikes, and
good store of powder and ball, without any provision
but about half a hundred of bread, but with all their
chests and clothes, tools, instruments, books, &c.,
embarked themselves so silently, that the captain got
no notice of it till they were gotten half the way on
shore.

As soon as the captain heard of it he called for the
gunner's mate, the chief gunner being at the time sick
in his cabin, and ordered to fire at them ; but, to his
great mortification, the gunner's mate was one of the
number, and was gone with them ; and indeed it was
by this means they got so many arms and so much
ammunition. When the captain found how it was,
and that there was no help for it, he began to be a
little appeased, and made light of it, and called up the
men, and spoke kindly to them, and told them he was
very well satisfied in the fidelity and ability of those
that were now left, and that he would give to them,
for their encouragement, to be divided among them,
the wages which were due to the men that were gone,

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 21

and that it was a great satisfaction to him that the ship
was free from such a mutinous rabble, who had not
the least reason for their discontent.

The men seemed very well satisfied, and particularly
the promise of the wages of those who were gone went
a great way with them. After this, the letter which
was left by the men was given to the captain by his
boy, with whom, it seems, the men had left it. The
letter was much to the same purpose of what they had
said to the mate, and which he declined to say for
them, only that at the end of their letter they told the
captain that, as they had no dishonest design, so they had
taken nothing away with them which was not their own,
except some arms and ammunition, such as were abso
lutely necessary to them, as well for their defence against
the savages as to kill fowls or beasts for their food,
that they might not perish ; and as there were con
siderable sums due to them for wages, they hoped he
would allow the arms and ammunition upon their
accounts. They told him that, as to the ship's long
boat, which they had taken to bring them on shore,
they knew it was necessary to him, and they were very
willing to restore it to him, and if he pleased to send
for it, it should be very honestly delivered to his men,
and not the least injury offered to any of those who
came for it, nor the least persuasion or invitation made
use of to any of them to stay with them ; and, at the
bottom of the letter, they very humbly besought him
that, for their defence, and for the safety of their lives,
he would be pleased to send them a barrel of powder
and some ammunition, and give them leave to keep the
mast and sail of the boat, that if it was possible for
them to make themselves a boat of any kind, they
might shift off to sea, to save themselves in such part
of the world as their fate should direct them to.

Upon this the captain, who had won much upon the

22 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

rest of his men by what he had said to them, and was
very easy as to the general peace (for it was very true that
the most mutinous of the men were gone), came out
to the quarter-deck, and, calling the men together, let
them know the substance of the letter, and told the men
that, however they had not deserved such civility from
him, yet he was not willing to expose them more than
they were willing to expose themselves ; he was inclined
to send them some ammunition, and as they had desired
but one barrel of powder, he would send them two
barrels, and shot, or lead and moulds to make shot, in
proportion ; and, to let them see that he was civiller to
them than they deserved, he ordered a cask of arrack
and a great bag of bread to be sent them for subsistence
till they should be able to furnish themselves.

The rest of the men applauded the captain's gene
rosity, and every one of them sent us something or other,
and about three in the afternoon the pinnace came on
shore, and brought us all these things, which we were very
glad of, and returned the long-boat accordingly ; and
as to the men that came with the pinnace, as the
captain had singled out such men as he knew would not
come over to us, so they had positive orders not to
bring any one of us on board again, upon pain of death ;
and indeed both were so true to our points, that we
neither asked them to stay, nor they us to go.

We were now a good troop, being in all twenty-
seven men, very well armed, and provided with every
thing but victuals ; we had two carpenters among us, a
gunner, and, which was worth all the rest, a surgeon or
doctor ; that is to say, he was an assistant to a surgeon
at Goa, and was entertained as a supernumerary with
us. The carpenters had brought all their tools, the
doctor all his instruments and medicines, and indeed
we had a great deal of baggage, that is to say, on the
whole, for some of us had little more than the clothes

r as

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 23

on our backs, of whom I was one ; but I had one thing
which none of them had, viz., I had the twenty-two
moidores of gold which I had stole at the Brazils, and
two pieces of eight. The two pieces of eight I showed,
and one moidore, and none of them ever suspected that
I had any more money in the world, having been known
to be only a poor boy taken up in charity, as you have
heard, and used like a slave, and in the worst manner
of a slave, by my cruel master the pilot.

It will be easy to imagine we four that were left at
first were joyful, nay, even surprised with joy at the
coming of the rest, though at first we were frighted,
and thought they came to fetch us back to hang us ;
but they took ways quickly to satisfy us that they were
in the same condition with us, only with this addi
tional circumstance, theirs was voluntary, and ours by
force.

The first piece of news they told us after the short
history of their coming away was, that our companion
was on board, but how he got thither we could not ima
gine, for he had given us the slip, and we never imagined
he could swim so well as to venture off to the ship, which
lay at so great a distance ; nay, we did not so much as
know that he could swim at all, and not thinking any
thing of what really happened, we thought he must
have wandered into the woods and was devoured, or
was fallen into the hands of the natives, and was
murdered ; and these thoughts filled us with fears
enough, and of several kinds, about its being some time
or other our lot to fall into their hands also. But
hearing how he had with much difficulty been received
on board the ship again and pardoned, we were much
better satisfied than before.

Being now, as I have said, a considerable number of
us, and in condition to defend ourselves, the first thing
we did was to give every one his hand that we would not

24 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

separate from one another upon any occasion whatso
ever, but that we would live and die together ; that, we
would kill no food, but that we would distribute it in
public ; and that we would be in all things guided by the
majority, and not insist upon our own resolutions in
anything if the majority were against it ; that we would
appoint a captain among us to be our governor or leader
during pleasure ; that while he was in office we would
obey him without reserve, on pain of death ; and that
every one should take turn, but the captain was not to
act in any particular thing without advice of the rest,
and by the majority.

Having established these rules, we resolved to enter
into some measures for our food, and for conversing
with the inhabitants or natives of the island for our
supply. As for food, they were at first very useful to
us, but we soon grew weary of them, being an ignorant,
ravenous, brutish sort of people, even worse than the
natives of any other country that we had seen ; and we
soon found that the principal part of our subsistence
was to be had by our guns, shooting of deer and other
creatures, and fowls of all other sorts, of which there
is abundance.

We found the natives did not disturb or concern
themselves much about us; nor did they inquire, or
perhaps know, whether we stayed among them or not,
much less that our ship was gone quite away, and had
cast us off, as was our case; for the next morning,
after we had sent back the long-boat, the ship stood
away to the south-east, and in four hours' time was out
of our sight.

The next day two of us went out into the country
one way, and two another, to see what kind of a land
we were in ; and we soon found the country was very
pleasant and fruitful, and a convenient place enough to
live in ; but, as before, inhabited by a parcel of creatures

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 25

scarce human, or capable of being made social on any
account whatsoever.

We found the place full of cattle and provisions ;
but whether we might venture to take them where we
could find them or not, we did not know ; and though
we were under a necessity to get provisions, yet we
were loth to bring down a whole nation of devils upon us
at once, and therefore some of our company agreed to try
to speak with some of the country, if we could, that we
might see what course was to be taken with them.
Eleven of our men went on this errand, well armed
and furnished for defence. They brought word that
they had seen some of the natives, who appeared very
civil to them, but very shy and afraid, seeing their guns,
for it was easy to perceive that the natives knew what
their guns were, and what use they were of.

They made signs to the natives for some food, and
they went and fetched several herbs and roots, and some
milk ; but it was evident they did not design to give it
away, but to sell it, making signs to know what our
men would give them.

Our men were perplexed at this, for they had no
thing to barter ; however, one of the men pulled out a
knife and showed them, and they were so fond of it
that they were ready to go together by the ears for the
knife. The seaman seeing that, was willing to make a
good market of his knife, and keeping them chaffering
about it a good while, some offered him roots, and others
milk ; at last one offered him a goat for it, which he
took. Then another of our men showed them another
knife, but they had nothing good enough for that,
whereupon one of them made signs that he would go
and fetch something ; so our men stayed three hours
for their return, when they came back and brought him
a small-sized, thick, short cow, very fat and good meat,
and gave him for his knife.

26 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

This was a good market, but our misfortune was we
had no merchandise ; for our knives were as needful to
us as to them, and but that we were in distress for food,
and must of necessity have some, these men would not
have parted with their knives.

However, in a little time more we found that the
woods were full of living creatures, which we might
kill for our food, and that without giving offence to
them ; so that our men went daily out a- hunting, and
never failed in killing something or other ; for, as to
the natives, we had no goods to barter ; and for money,
all the stock among us would not have subsisted us long.
However, we called a general council to see what money
we had, and to bring it all together, that it might go as
far as possible ; and when it came to my turn, I pulled
out a moidore and the two dollars I spoke of before.

This moidore I ventured to show, that they might
not despise me too much for adding too little to the
store, and that they might not pretend to search me ;
and they were very civil to me, upon the presumption
that I had been so faithful to them as not to conceal
anything from them.

But our money did us little service, for the people
neither knew the value or the use of it, nor could they
justly rate the gold in proportion with the silver; so that
all our money, which was not much when it was all put
together, would go but a little way with us, that is to
say, to buy us provisions.

Our next consideration was to get away from this
cursed place, and whither to go. When my opinion
came to be asked, I told them I would leave that all
to them, and I told them I had rather they would
Jet me go into the woods to get them some provisions,
than consult with me, for I would agree to whatever
they did ; but they would not agree to that, for they
would not consent that any of us should go into the

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 2J

woods alone ; for though we had yet seen no lions or
tigers in the woods, we were assured there were many
in the island, besides other creatures as dangerous, and
perhaps worse, as we afterwards found by our own
experience.

We had many adventures in the woods, for our
provisions, and often met with wild and terrible beasts,
which we could not call by their names ; but as they
were, like us, seeking their prey, but were themselves
good for nothing, so we disturbed them as little as
possible.

Our consultations concerning our escape from this
place, which, as I have said, we were now upon, ended
in this only, that as we had two carpenters among us,
and that they had tools almost of all sorts with them,
we should try to build us a boat to go off to sea with,
and that then, perhaps, we might find our way back to
Goa, or land on some more proper place to make our
escape. The counsels of this assembly were not of
great moment, yet as they seem to be introductory of
many more remarkable adventures which happened
under my conduct hereabouts many years after, I
think this miniature of my future enterprises may not
be unpleasant to relate.

To the building of a boat I made no objection, and
away they went to work immediately; but as they
went on, great difficulties occurred, such as the want
of saws to cut our plank ; nails, bolts, and spikes, to
fasten the timbers ; hemp, pitch, and tar, to caulk and
pay her seams, and the like. At length, one of the
company proposed that, instead of building a bark or
sloop, or shallop, or whatever they would call it, which
they found was so difficult, they would rather make a
large periagua, or canoe, which might be done with
great ease.

It was presently objected, that we could never make

28 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

a canoe large enough to pass the great ocean, which we
were to go over to get to the coast of Malabar ; that it
not only would not bear the sea, but it would never
bear the burden, for we were not only twenty-seven
men of us, but had a great deal of luggage with us, and
must, for our provision, take in a great deal more.

I never proposed to speak in their general consulta
tions before, but finding they were at some loss about
what kind of vessel they should make, and how to
make it, and what would be fit for our use, and what
not, I told them I found they were at a full stop in
their counsels of every kind ; that it was true we could
never pretend to go over to Goa on the coast of Malabar
in a canoe, which though we could all get into it, and
that it would bear the sea well enough, yet would not
hold our provisions, and especially we could not put
fresh water enough into it for the voyage ; and to make
such an adventure would be nothing but mere running
into certain destruction, and yet that nevertheless I was
for making a canoe.

They answered, that they understood all I had said
before well enough, but what I meant by telling them
first how dangerous and impossible it was to make our
escape in a canoe, and yet then to advise making a
canoe, that they could not understand.

To this I answered, that I conceived our business
was not to attempt our escape in a canoe, but that, as
there were other vessels at sea besides our ship, and
that there were few nations that lived on the sea- shore
that were so barbarous, but that they went to sea in
some boats or other, our business was to cruise along
the coast of the island, which was very long, and to
seize upon the first we could get that was better than
our own, and so from that to another, till perhaps we
might at last get a good ship to carry us wherever we
pleased to go.

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 29

" Excellent advice," says one of them. " Admirable
advice," says another. " Yes, yes," says the third
(which was the gunner), "the English dog has given
excellent advice; but it is just the way to bring us
all to the gallows. The rogue has given us devilish
advice, indeed, to go a-thieving, till from a little vessel
we came to a great ship, and so we shall turn down
right pirates, the end of which is to be hanged."

" You may call us pirates," says another, *' if you
will, and if we fall into bad hands, we may be used
like pirates ; but I care not for that, I'll be a pirate, or
anything, nay, I'll be hanged for a pirate rather than
starve here, therefore I think the advice is very good."
And so they cried all, " Let us have a canoe." The
gunner, over-ruled by the rest, submitted ; but as we
broke up the council, he came to me, takes me by the
hand, and, looking into the palm of my hand, and into
my face too, very gravely, " My lad," says he, " thou
art born to do a world of mischief; thou hast com
menced pirate very young ; but have a care of the
gallows, young man ; have a care, I say, for thou wilt
be an eminent thief."

I laughed at him, and told him I did not know
what I might come to hereafter, but as our case was
now, I should make no scruple to take the first ship
I came at to get our liberty ; I only wished we could
see one, and come at her. Just while we were talking,
one of our men that was at the door of our hut, told us
that the carpenter, who it seems was upon a hill at a
distance, cried out, " A sail ! a sail ! "

We all turned out immediately ; but, though it was
very clear weather, we could see nothing; but the
carpenter continuing to halloo to us, " A sail ! a
sail ! " away we run up the hill, and there we saw
a ship plainly ; but it was at a very great distance,
too far for us to make any signal to her. However,

30 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

we made a fire upon the hill, with all the wood we
could get together, and made as much smoke as
possible. The wind was down, and it was almost
calm ; but as we thought, by a perspective glass which
the gunner had in his pocket, her sails were full, and
she stood away large with the wind at E.N.E., taking
no notice of our signal, but making for the Cape de
Bona Speranza ; so we had no comfort from her.

We went, therefore, immediately to work about
our intended canoe ; and, having singled out a very
large tree to our minds, we fell to work with her;
and having three good axes among us, we got it down,
but it was four days' time first, though we worked very
hard too. I do not remember what wood it was, or
exactly what dimensions, but I remember that it was a
very large one, and we were as much encouraged when
we launched it, and found it swam upright and steady,
as we would have been at another time if we had had
a good man-of-war at our command.

She was so very large, that she carried us all very,
very easily, and would have carried two or three tons
of baggage with us ; so that we began to consult about
going to sea directly to Goa ; but many other con
siderations checked that thought, especially when we
came to look nearer into it ; such as want of provisions,
and no casks for fresh water ; no compass to steer by ;
no shelter from the breach of the high sea, which
would certainly founder us ; no defence from the heat
of the weather, and the like ; so that they all came
readily into my project, to cruise about where we were,
and see what might offer.

Accordingly, to gratify our fancy, we went one
day all out to sea in her together, and we were in a
very fair way to have had enough of it ; for when
she had us all on board, and that we were gotten about
half a league to sea, there happening to be a pretty

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 3!

high swell of the sea, though little or no wind, yet
she wallowed so in the sea, that we all of us thought
she would at last wallow herself bottom up ; so we
set all to work to get her in nearer the shore, and
giving her fresh way in the sea, she swam more steady,
and with some hard work we got her under the land
again.

We were now at a great loss; the natives were
civil enough to us, and came often to discourse with
us ; one time they brought one whom they showed
respect to as a king with them, and they set up a long
pole between them and us, with a great tassel of hair
hanging, not on the top, but something above the
middle of it, adorned with little chains, shells, bits
of brass, and the like ; and this, we understood aft< r-
wards, was a token of amity and friendship ; and they
brought down to us victuals in abundance, cattle, fowla,
herbs, and roots ; but we were in the utmost confusion
on our side ; for we had nothing to buy with, or
exchange for ; and as to giving us things for nothing
they had no notion of that again. As to our money,
it was mere trash to them, they had no value for it ;
so that we were in a fair way to be starved. Had
we had but some toys and trinkets, brass chains,
baubles, glass beads, or, in a word, the veriest trifles
that a shipload of would not have been worth the
freight, we might have bought cattle and provisions
enough for an army, or to victual a fleet of men-of-war ;
but for gold or silver we could get nothing.

Upon this we were in a strange consternation. I
was but a young fellow, but I was for falling upon
them with our firearms, and taking all the cattle from
them, and send them to the devil to stop their hunger,
rather than be starved ourselves ; but I did not con
sider that this might have brought ten thousand of
them down upon us the next day; and though we

32 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

might have killed a vast number of them, and perhaps
have frighted the rest, yet their own desperation, and
our small number, would have animated them so that,
one time or other, they would have destroyed us all.

In the middle of our consultation, one of our men
who had been a kind of a cutler, or worker in iron,
started up and asked the carpenter if, among all his
tools, he could not help him to a file. " Yes," says
the carpenter, " I can, but it is a small one." " The
smaller the better," says the other. Upon this he
goes to work, and first by heating a piece of an old
broken chisel in the fire, and then with the help of
his file, he made himself several kinds of tools for his
work. Then he takes three or four pieces of eight,
and beats them out with a hammer upon a stone, till
they were very broad and thin ; then he cuts them out
into the shape of birds and beasts ; he made little
chains of them for bracelets and necklaces, and turned
them into so many devices of his own head, that it
is hardly to be expressed.

When he had for about a fortnight exercised his
head and hands at this work, we tried the effect of
his ingenuity ; and, having another meeting with the
natives, were surprised to see the folly of the poor
people. For a little bit of silver cut in the shape of
a bird, we had two cows, and, which was our loss,
if it had been in brass, it had been still of more value.
For one of the bracelets made of chain-work, we
had as much provision of several sorts, as would fairly
have been worth, in England, fifteen or sixteen pounds ;
and so of all the rest. Thus, that which when it
was in coin was not worth sixpence to us, when thus
converted into toys and trifles, was worth a hundred
times its real value, and purchased for us anything we
had occasion for.

In this condition we lived upwards of a year, but all

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 33

of us began to be very much tired of it, and, whatever
came of it, resolved to attempt an escape. We had
furnished ourselves with no less than three very good
canoes ; and as the monsoons, or trade- winds, generally
affect that country, blowing in most parts of this island
one six months of a year one way, and the other six
months another way, we concluded we might be able
to bear the sea well enough. But always, when we
came to look into it, the want of fresh water was the
thing that put us off from such an adventure, for it is a
prodigious length, and what no man on earth could be
able to perform without water to drink.

Being thus prevailed upon by our own reason to set
.the thoughts of that voyage aside, we had then but two
things before us ; one was, to put to sea the other way ;
viz., west, and go away for the Cape of Good Hope,
where, first or last, we should meet with some of our
own country ships, or else to put for the mainland of
Africa, and either travel by land, or sail along the
coast towards the Red Sea, where we should, first or
last, find a ship of some nation or other, that would
take us up ; or perhaps we might take them up, which,
by-the-bye, was the thing that always ran in my head.

It was our ingenious cutler, whom ever after we
called silversmith, that proposed this ; but the gunner
told him, that he had been in the Red Sea in a Malabar
sloop, and he knew this, that if we went into the Red
Sea, we should either be killed by the wild Arabs, or
taken and made slaves of by the Turks ; and therefore
he was not for going that way.

Upon this I took occasion to put in my vote again.
" Why," said I, do we talk of being killed by the
Arabs, or made slaves of by the Turks ? Are we not
able to board almost any vessel we shall meet with in
those seas ; and, instead of their taking us, we to take
them ? " " Well done, pirate," said the gunner (he

c

34 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

that had looked in my hand, and told me I should
come to the gallows), " I'll say that for him," says he,
" he always looks the same way. But I think, of my
conscience, it is our only way now." " Don't tell
me," says I, "of being a pirate; we must be pirates,
or anything, to get fairly out of this cursed place."

In a word, they concluded all, by my advice, that
our business was to cruise for anything we could see.
" Why then," said I to them, " our first business is to
see if the people upon this island have no navigation,
and what boats they use ; and, if they have any better
or bigger than ours, let us take one of them." First,
indeed, all our aim was to get, if possible, a boat with
a deck and a sail ; for then we might have saved our
provisions, which otherwise we could not.

We had, to our great good fortune, one sailor among
us, who had been assistant to the cook; he told us,
that he would find a way how to preserve our beef
without cask or pickle ; and this he did effectually by
curing it in the sun, with the help of saltpetre, of which
there was great plenty in the island ; so that, before we
found any method for our escape, we had dried the
flesh of six or seven cows and bullocks, and ten or
twelve goats, and it relished so well, that we never
gave ourselves the trouble to boil it when we ate it, but
either broiled it or ate it dry. But our main difficulty
about fresh water still remained ; for we had no vessel
to put any into, much less to keep any for our going
to sea.

But our first yoyage being only to coast the island,
we resolved to venture, whatever the hazard or conse
quence of it might be, and in order to preserve as much
fresh water as we could, our carpenter made a well
athwart the middle of one of our canoes, which he
separated from the other parts of the canoe, so as to
make it tight to hold the water, and covered so as we

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 35

might step upon it ; and this was so large that it held
near a hogshead of water very well. I cannot better
describe this well than by the same kind which the
small fishing-boats in England have to preserve their
fish alive in ; only that this, instead of having holes to
let the salt water in, was made sound every way to
keep it out ; and it was the first invention, I believe, of
its kind for such an use ; but necessity is a spur to in
genuity and the mother of invention.

It wanted but a little consultation to resolve now
upon our voyage. The first design was only to coast
it round the island, as well to see if we could seize
upon any vessel fit to embark ourselves in, as also to
take hold of any opportunity which might present for
our passing over to the main ; and therefore our resolu
tion was to go on the inside or west shore of the island,
where, at least at one point, the land stretching a great
way to the north-west, the distance is not extraordinary
great from the island to the coast of Africa.

Such a voyage, and with such a desperate crew, I
believe was never made, for it is certain we took the
worst side of the island to look for any shipping, especially
for shipping of other nations, this being quite out of the
way ; however, we put to sea, after taking all our pro
visions and ammunition, bag and baggage, on board ; we
had made both mast and sail for our two large periaguas,
and the other we paddled along as well as we could ;
but when a gale sprung up, we took her in tow.

We sailed merrily forward for several days, meeting
with nothing to interrupt us. We saw several of the
natives in small canoes catching fish, and sometimes we
endeavoured to come near enough to speak with them,
but they were always shy and afraid of us, making in
for the shore as soon as we attempted it ; till one of
our company remembered the signal of friendship which
the natives made us from the south part of the island,

36 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

viz., of setting up a long pole, and put us in mind that
perhaps it was the same thing to them as a flag of truce
to us. So we resolved to try it ; and accordingly the
next time we saw any of their fishing-boats at sea we
put up a pole in our canoe that had no sail, and rowed
towards them. As soon as they saw the pole they
stayed for us, and as we came nearer paddled towards
us ; when they came to us they showed themselves very
much pleased, and gave us some large fish, of which we
did not know the names, but they were very good. It
was our misfortune still that we had nothing to give them
in return ; but our artist, of whom I spoke before, gave
them two little thin plates of silver, beaten, as I said
before, out of a piece of eight ; they were cut in a dia
mond square, longer one way than the other, and a hole
punched at one of the longest corners. This they were
so fond of that they made us stay till they had cast their
lines and nets again, and gave us as many fish as we
cared to have.

All this while we had our eyes upon their boats,
viewed them very narrowly, and examined whether
any of them were fit for our turn, but they were poor,
sorry things ; their sail was made of a large mat, only
one that was of a piece of cotton stuff fit for little, and
their ropes were twisted flags of no strength ; so we
concluded we were better as we were, and let them
alone. We went forward to the north, keeping the
coast close on board for twelve days together, and
having the wind at east and E.S.E., we made very
fresh way. We saw no towns on the shore, but often
saw some huts by the water-side upon the rocks, and
always abundance of people about them, who we could
perceive run together to stare at us.

It was as odd a voyage as ever man went ; we were
a little fleet of three ships, and an army of between
twenty and thirty as dangerous fellows as ever they

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 37

had amongst them ; and had they known what we
were, they would have compounded to give us every
thing we desired to be rid of us.

On the other hand, we were as miserable as nature
could well make us to be, for we were upon a voyage
and no voyage, we were bound somewhere and no
where ; for though we knew what we intended to do,
we did really not know what we were doing. We
went forward and forward by a northerly course, and
as we advanced the heat increased, which began to be
intolerable to us, who were on the water, without any
covering from heat or wet ; besides, we were now in
the month of October, or thereabouts, in a southern
latitude; and as we went every day nearer the sun,
the sun came also every day nearer to us, till at last
we found ourselves in the latitude of 20 degrees ;
and having passed the tropic about five or six days
before that, in a few days more the sun would be in
the zenith, just over our heads.

Upon these considerations we resolved to seek for
a good place to go on shore again, and pitch our
tents, till the heat of the weather abated. We had
by this time measured half the length of the island,
and were come to that part where the shore tend
ing away to the north-west, promised fair to make
our passage over to the mainland of Africa much
shorter than we expected. But, notwithstanding that,
we had good reason to believe it was about 120
leagues.

So, the heats considered, we resolved to take har
bour ; besides, our provisions were exhausted, and we
had not many days' store left. Accordingly, putting
in for the shore early in the morning, as we usually did
once in three or four days for fresh water, we sat down
and considered whether we would go on or take up our
standing there; but upon several considerations, too

38 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

long to repeat here, we did not like the place, so we
resolved to go on a few days longer.

After sailing on N.W. by N. with a fresh gale at
S.E., about six days, we found, at a great distance, a
large promontory or cape of land, pushing out a long
way into the sea, and as we were exceeding fond of
seeing what was beyond the cape, we resolved to double
it before we took into harbour, so we kept on our way,
the gale continuing, and yet it was four days more
before we reached the cape. But it is not possible to
express the discouragement and melancholy that seized
us all when we came thither ; for when we made the
headland of the cape, we were surprised to see the
shore fall away on the other side as much as it had
advanced on this side, and a great deal more ; and
that, in short, if we would venture over to the shore
of Africa, it must be from hence, for that if we went
further, the breadth of the sea still increased, and to
what breadth it might increase we knew not.

While we mused upon this discovery, we were sur
prised with very bad weather, and especially violent
rains, with thunder and lightning, most unusually ter
rible to us. In this pickle we run for the shore, and
getting under the lee of the cape, run our frigates into
a little creek, where we saw the land overgrown with
trees, and made all the haste possible to get on shore,
being exceeding wet, and fatigued with the heat, the
thunder, lightning, and rain.

Here we thought our case was very deplorable in
deed, and therefore our artist, of whom I have spoken
so often, set up a great cross of wood on the hill which
was within a mile of the headland, with these words,
but in the Portuguese language :

" Point Desperation. Jesus have mercy."
We set to work immediately to build us some huts,

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 39

and to get our clothes dried ; and though I was young
and had no skill in such things, yet I shall never forget
the little city we built, for it was no less, and we for
tified it accordingly ; and the idea is so fresh in my
thought, that I cannot but give a short description
of it.

Our camp was on the south side of a little creek on
the sea, and under the shelter of a steep hill, which
lay, though on the other side of the creek, yet within
a quarter of a mile of us, N.W. by N., and very
happily intercepted the heat of the sun all the after
part of the day. The spot we pitched on had a little
fresh water brook, or a stream running into the creek
by us ; and we saw cattle feeding in the plains and low
ground east and to the south of us a great way.

Here we set up twelve little huts like soldiers' tents,
but made of the boughs of trees stuck in the ground,
and bound together on the top with withies, and such
other things as we could get ; the creek was our defence
on the north, a little brook on the west, and the south
and east sides were fortified with a bank, which entirely
covered our huts ; and being drawn oblique from the
north-west to the south-east, made our city a triangle.
Behind the bank or line our huts stood, having three
other huts behind them at a good distance. In one
of these, which was a little one, and stood^ further off,
we put our gunpowder, and nothing else, for fear of
danger ; in the other, which was bigger, we dressed our
victuals, and put all our necessaries ; and in the third,
which was biggest of all, we ate our dinners, called
our councils, and sat and diverted ourselves with such
conversation as we had one with another, which was
but indifferent truly at that time.

Our correspondence with the natives was absolutely
necessary, and our artist the cutler having made abun
dance of those little diamond-cut squares of silver, with

40 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

these we made shift to traffic with the black people for
what we wanted ; for indeed they were pleased wonder
fully with them, and thus we got plenty of provisions.
At first, and in particular, we got about fifty head of
black cattle and goats, and our cook's mate took care
to cure them and dry them, salt and preserve them for
our grand supply ; nor was this hard to do, the salt and
saltpetre being very good, and the sun excessively hot ;
and here we lived about four months.

The southern solstice was over, and the sun gone
back towards the equinoctial, when we considered of
our next adventure, which was to go over the sea of
Zanguebar, as the Portuguese call it, and to land, if
possible, upon the continent of Africa.

We talked with many of the natives about it, such
as we could make ourselves intelligible to, but all that
we could learn from them was, that there was a great
land of lions beyond the sea, but that it was a great way
off. We knew as well as they that it was a long way,
but our people differed mightily about it ; some said it
was 150 leagues, others not above 100. One of our
men, that had a map of the world, showed us by his
scale that it was not above eighty leagues. Some said
there were islands all the way to touch at, some that
there were no islands at all. For my own part, I knew
nothing of this matter one way or another, but heard
it all without concern, whether it was near or far off;
however, this we learned from an old man who was
blind and led about by a boy, that if we stayed till the
end of August, we should be sure of the wind to be
fair and the sea smooth all the voyage.

This was some encouragement; but staying again
was very unwelcome news to us, because that then the
sun would be returning again to the south, which was
what our men were very unwilling to. At last we
called a council of our whole body ; their debates were

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 41

too tedious to take notice of, only to note, that when it
came to Captain Bob (for so they called me ever since
I had taken state upon me before one of their great
princes), truly I was on no side; it was not one
farthing matter to me, I told them, whether we went
or stayed ; I had no home, and all the world was alike
to me ; so I left it entirely to them to determine.

In a word, they saw plainly there was nothing to be
done where we were without shipping; that if our
business indeed was only to eat and drink, we could not
find a better place in the world ; but if our business
was to get away, and get home into our country, we
could not find a worse.

I confess I liked the country wonderfully, and even
then had strange notions of coming again to live there ;
and I used to say to them very often that if I had but
a ship of twenty guns, and a sloop, and both well
manned, I would not desire a better place in the world
to make myself as rich as a king.

But to return to the consultations they were in about
going. Upon the whole, it was resolved to venture
over for the main ; and venture we did, madly enough,
indeed, for it was the wrong time of the year to under
take such a voyage in that country ; for, as the winds
hang easterly all the months from September to March,
so they generally hang westerly all the rest of the year,
and blew right in our teeth ; so that, as soon as we had,
with a kind of a land-breeze, stretched over about fif
teen or twenty leagues, and, as I may say, just enough
to lose ourselves, we found the wind set in a steady
fresh gale or breeze from the sea, at west, W.S.W.,
or S.W. by W., and never further from the west ; so
that, in a word, we could make nothing of it.

On the other hand, the vessel, such as we had,
would not lie close upon a wind ; if so, we might have
stretched away N.N.W., and have met with a great

42 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

many islands in our way, as we found afterwards ; but
we could make nothing of it, though we tried, and by
the trying had almost undone us all; for, stretching
away to the north, as near the wind as we could, we
had forgotten the shape and position of the island of
Madagascar itself; how that we came off at the head
of a promontory or point of land, that lies about the
middle of the island, and that stretches out west a great
way into the sea ; and that now, being run a matter of
forty leagues to the north, the shore of the island fell
off again above 200 miles to the east, so that we were
by this time in the wide ocean, between the island and
the. main, and almost 100 leagues from both.

Indeed, as the winds blew fresh at west, as before,
we had a smooth sea, and we found it pretty good
going before it, and so, taking our smallest canoe in
tow, we stood in for the shore with all the sail we
could make. This was a terrible adventure, for, if the
least gust of wind had come, we had been all lost, our
canoes being deep and in no condition to make way in
a high sea.

This voyage, however, held us eleven days in all ;
and at length, having spent most of our provisions, and
every drop of water we had, we spied land, to our
great joy, though at the distance of ten or eleven
leagues ; and as, under the land, the wind came off
like a land-breeze, and blew hard against us, we were
two days more before we reached the shore, having all
that while excessive hot weather, and not a drop of
water or any other liquor, except some cordial waters,
which one of our company had a little of left in a case
of bottles.

This gave us a taste of what we should have done if
we had ventured forward with a scant wind and uncer
tain weather, and gave us a surfeit of our design for the
main, at least until we might have some better vessels

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 43

under us ; so we went on shore again, and pitched our
camp as before, in as convenient manner as we could,
fortifying ourselves against any surprise; but the natives
here were exceeding courteous, and much more civil
than on the south part of the island ; and though we
could not understand what they said, or they us, yet
we found means to make them understand that we were
seafaring men and strangers, and that we were in dis
tress for want of provisions.

The first proof we had of their kindness was, that
as soon as they saw us come on shore and begin to
make our habitation, one of their captains or kings, for
we knew not what to call them, came down with five
or six men and some women, and brought us five goats
and two young fat steers, and gave them to us for
nothing ; and when we went to offer them anything,
the captain or the king would not let any of them touch
it, or take anything of us. About two hours after
came another king, or captain, with forty or fifty men
after him. We began to be afraid of him, and laid
hands upon our weapons ; but he perceiving it, caused
two men to go before him, carrying two long poles in
their hands, which they held upright, as high as they
could, which we presently perceived was a signal of
peace; and these two poles they set up afterwards,
sticking them up in the ground ; and when the king
and his men came to these two poles, they struck all
their lances up in the ground, and came on unarmed,
leaving their lances, as also their bows and arrows,
behind them.

This was to satisfy us that they were come as friends,
and we were glad to see it, for we had no mind to
quarrel with them if we could help it. The captain
of this gang seeing some of our men making up their
huts, and that they did it but bunglingly, he beckoned
to some of his men to go and help us. Immediately

44 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

fifteen or sixteen of them came and mingled among us,
and went to work for us ; and indeed, they were better
workmen than we were, for they run up three or four
huts for us in a moment, and much handsomer done
than ours.

After this they sent us milk, plantains, pumpkins,
and abundance of roots and greens that were very good,
and then took their leave, and would not take anything
from us that we had. One of our men offered the
king or captain of these men a dram, which he drank
and was mightily pleased with it, and held out his hand
for another, which we gave him ; and in a word, after
this, he hardly failed coming to us two or three times
a week, always bringing us something or other ; and
one time sent us seven head of black cattle, some of
which we cured and dried as before.

And here I cannot but remember one thing, which
afterwards stood us in great stead, viz., that the flesh
of their goats, and their beef also, but especially the
former, when we had dried and cured it, looked red,
and ate hard and firm, as dried beef in Holland ; they
were so pleased with it, and it was such a dainty to
them, that at any time after they would trade with us
for it, not knowing, or so much as imagining what it
was; so that for ten or twelve pounds' weight of
smoke-dried beef, they would give us a whole bullock,
or cow, or anything else we could desire.

Here we observed two things that were very material
to us, even essentially so ; first, we found they had a
great deal of earthenware here, which they made use of
many ways as we did ; particularly they had long, deep
earthen pots, which they used to sink into the ground,
to keep the water which they drunk cool and pleasant ;
and the other was, that they had larger canoes than
their neighbours had.

By this we were prompted to inquire if they had

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 45

no larger vessels than those we saw there, or if any
other of the inhabitants had not such. They signified
presently that they had no larger boats than that they
showed us ; but that on the other side of the island
they had larger boats, and that with decks upon them,
and large sails ; and this made us resolve to coast round
the whole island to see them ; so we prepared and
victualled our canoe for the voyage, and, in a word,
went to sea for the third time.

It cost us a month or six weeks' time to perform
this voyage, in which time we went on shore several
times for water and provisions, and found the natives
always very free and courteous ; but we were surprised
one morning early, being at the extremity of the nor
thernmost part of the island, when one of our men
cried out, " A sail ! a sail ! " We presently saw a
vessel a great way out at sea ; but after we had looked
at it with our perspective glasses, and endeavoured all
we could to make out what it was, we could not tell
what to think of it ; for it was neither ship, ketch,
galley, galliot, or like anything that we had ever seen
before ; all that we could make of it was, that it went
from us, standing out to sea. In a word, we soon lost
sight of it, for we were in no condition to chase any
thing, and we never saw it again ; but, by all that we
could perceive of it, from what we saw of such things
afterwards, it was some Arabian vessel, which had
been trading to the coast of Mozambique, or Zanzi
bar, the same place where we afterwards went, as you
shall hear.

I kept no journal of this voyage, nor indeed did I
all this while understand anything of navigation, more
than the common business of a foremast-man ; so I can
say nothing to the latitudes or distances of any places
we were at, how long we were going, or how far we
sailed in a day ; but this I remember, that being now

46 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

come round the island, we sailed up the eastern shore
due south, as we had done down the western shore due
north before.

Nor do I remember that the natives differed much
from one another, either in stature or complexion, or
in their manners, their habits, their weapons, or indeed
in anything ; and yet we could not perceive that they
had any intelligence one with another ; but they were
extremely kind and civil to us on this side, as well as
on the other.

We continued our voyage south for many weeks,
though with several intervals of going on shore to get
provisions and water. At length, coming round a
point of land which lay about a league further than
ordinary into the sea, we were agreeably surprised with
a sight which, no doubt, had been as disagreeable to
those concerned, as it was pleasant to us. This was
the wreck of an European ship, which had been cast
away upon the rocks, which in that place run a great
way into the sea.

We could see plainly, at low water, a great deal of
the ship lay dry ; even at high water, she was not
entirely covered ; and that at most she did not lie above
a league from the shore. It will easily be believed that
our curiosity led us, the wind and weather also permit
ting, to go directly to her, which we did without any
difficulty, and presently found that it was a Dutch-built
ship, and that she could not have been very long in that
condition, a great deal of the upper work of her stern
remaining firm, with the mizzen-mast standing. Her
stern seemed to be jammed in between two ridges of
the rock, and so remained fast, all the fore part of the
ship having been beaten to pieces.

We could see nothing to be gotten out of the wreck
that was worth our while ; but we resolved to go on
shore, and stay some time thereabouts, to see if perhaps

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 47

we might get any light into the story of her ; and we
were not without hopes that we might hear something
more particular about her men, and perhaps find some
of them on shore there, in the same condition that we
were in, and so might increase our company.

It was a very pleasant sight to us when, coming on
shore, we saw all the marks and tokens of a ship-
carpenter's yard ; as a launch-block and cradles, scaf
folds and planks, and pieces of planks, the remains of
the building a ship or vessel ; and, in a word, a great
many things that fairly invited us to go about the same
work ; and we soon came to understand that the men
belonging to the ship that was lost had saved them
selves on shore, perhaps in their boat, and had built
themselves a barque or sloop, and so were gone to sea
again ; and, inquiring of the natives which way they
went, they pointed to the south and south-west, by
which we could easily understand they were gone away
to the Cape of Good Hope.

Nobody will imagine we could be so dull as not
to gather from hence that we might take the same
method for our escape ; so we resolved first, in general,
that we would try if possible to build us a boat of one
kind or other, and go to sea as our fate should direct.

In order to this our first work was to have the two
carpenters search about to see what materials the
Dutchmen had left behind them that might be of use ;
and, in particular, they found one that was very useful,
and which I was much employed about, and that was
a pitch-kettle, and a little pitch in it.

When we came to set close to this work we found
it very laborious and difficult, having but few tools,
no ironwork, no cordage, no sails ; so that, in short,
whatever we built, we were obliged to be our own
smiths, rope-makers, sail-makers, and indeed to prac
tise twenty trades that we knew little or nothing of.

48 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

However, necessity was the spur to invention, and we
did many things which before we thought imprac
ticable, that is to say, in our circumstances.

After our two carpenters had resolved upon the
dimensions of what they would build, they set us all to
work, to go off in our boats and split up the wreck of
the old ship, and to bring away everything we could ;
and particularly that, if possible, we should bring away
the mizzen-mast, which was left standing, which with
much difficulty we effected, after above twenty days'
labour of fourteen of our men.

At the same time we got out a great deal of iron
work, as bolts, spikes, nails, &c., all of which our
artist, of whom I have spoken already, who was now
grown a very dexterous smith, made us nails and
hinges for our rudder, and spikes such as we wanted.

But we wanted an anchor, and if we had had an
anchor, we could not have made a cable ; so we con
tented ourselves with making some ropes with the help
of the natives, of such stuff as they made their mats of,
and with these we made such a kind of cable or tow-
line as was sufficient to fasten our vessel to the shore,
which we contented ourselves with for that time.

To be short, we spent four months here, and worked
very hard too ; at the end of which time we launched
our frigate, which, in a few words, had many defects,
but yet, all things considered, it was as well as we could
expect it to be.

In short, it was a kind of sloop, of the burthen of
near eighteen or twenty tons ; and had we had masts
and sails, standing and running rigging, as is usual in
such cases, and other conveniences, the vessel might
have carried us wherever we could have had a mind to
go ; but of all the materials we wanted, this was the
worst, viz., that we had no tar or pitch to pay the
seams and secure the bottom ; and though we did what

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 49

we could, with tallow and oil, to make a mixture to
supply that part, yet we could not bring it to answer
our end fully; and when we launched her into the
water, she was so leaky, and took in the water so fast,
that we thought all our labour had been lost, for we
had much ado to make her swim ; and as for pumps,
we had none, nor had we any means to make one.

But at length one of the natives, a black negro-man,
showed us a tree, the wood of which being put into the
fire, sends forth a liquid that is as glutinous and almost
as strong as tar, and of which, by boiling, we made a
sort of stuff which served us for pitch, and this an
swered our end effectually ; for we perfectly made our
vessel sound and tight, so that we wanted no pitch or
tar at all. This secret has stood me in stead upon
many occasions since that time in the same place.

Our vessel being thus finished, out of the mizzen-mast
of the ship we made a very good mast to her, and fitted
our sails to it as well as we could ; then we made a
rudder and tiller, and, in a word, everything that our
present necessity called upon us for ; and having vic
tualled her, and put as much fresh water on board as
we thought we wanted, or as we knew how to stow (for
we were yet without casks), we put to sea with a fair
wind.

We had spent near another year in these rambles,
and in this piece of work ; for it was now, as our men
said, about the beginning of our February, and the sun
went from us apace, which was much to our satis
faction, for the heats were exceedingly violent. The
wind, as I said, was fair ; for, as I have since learned,
the winds generally spring up to the eastward, as the
sun goes from them to the north.

Our debate now was, which way we should go, and
never were men so irresolute ; some were for going to
the east, and stretching away directly for the coast of

50 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

Malabar; but others, who considered more seriously
the length of that voyage, shook their heads at the
proposal, knowing very well that neither our provisions,
especially of water, or our vessel, were equal to such
a run as that is, of near 2000 miles without any land
to touch at in the way.

These men, too, had all along had a great mind to
a voyage for the mainland of Africa, where they said
we should have a fair cast for our lives, and might be
sure to make ourselves rich, which way soever we went,
if we were but able to make our way through, whether
by sea or by land.

Besides, as the case stood with us, we had not much
choice for our way ; for, if we had resolved for the
east, we were at the wrong season of the year, and
must have stayed till April or May before we had
gone to sea. At length, as we had the wind at S.E.
and E.S.E., and fine promising weather, we came all
into the first proposal, and resolved for the coast of
Africa ; nor were we long in disputing as to our coast
ing the island which we were upon, for we were now
upon the wrong side of the island for the voyage we
intended ; so we stood away to the north, and, having
rounded the cape, we hauled away southward, under
the lee of the island, thinking to reach the west point
of land, which, as I observed before, runs out so far
towards the coast of Africa, as would have shortened
our run almost 100 leagues. But when we had sailed
about thirty leagues, we found the winds variable under
the shore, and right against us, so we concluded to
stand over directly, for then we had the wind fair, and
our vessel was but very ill fated to lie near the wind,
or any way indeed but just before it.

Having resolved upon it, therefore, we put into the
shore to furnish ourselves again with fresh water and
other provisions, and about the latter end of March,

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 51

with more courage than discretion, more resolution
than judgment, we launched for the main coast of
Africa.

As for me, I had no anxieties about it, so that we
had but a view of reaching some land or other, I cared
not what or where it was to be, having at this time no
views of what was before me, nor much thought of
what might or might not befall me ; but with as little
consideration as any one can be supposed to hare at my
age, I consented to everything that was proposed, how
ever hazardous the thing itself, however improbable the
success.

The voyage, as it was undertaken with a great deal
of ignorance and desperation, so really it was not car
ried on with much resolution or judgment ; for we
knew no more of the course we were to steer than this,
that it was anywhere about the west, within two or
three points N. or S., and as we had no compass with
us but a little brass pocket compass, which one of our
men had more by accident than otherwise, so we could
not be very exact in our course.

However, as it pleased God that the wind continued
fair at S.E. and by E., we found that N.W. by W.,
which was right afore it, was as good a course for us
as any we could go, and thus we went on.

The voyage was much longer than we expected ;
our vessel also, which had no sail that was propor
tioned to her, made but very little way in the sea, and
sailed heavily. We had, indeed, no great adventures
happened in this voyage, being out of the way of every
thing that could offer to divert us ; and as for seeing
any vessel, we had not the least occasion to hail any
thing in all the voyage ; for we saw not one vessel,
small or great, the sea we were upon being entirely out
of the way of all commerce ; for the people of Mada
gascar knew no more of the shores of Africa than we

52 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

did, only that there was a country of lions, as they call
it, that way.

We had been eight or nine days under sail, with a
fair wind, when, to our great joy, one of our men cried
out " Land ! " We had great reason to be glad of
the discovery, for we had not water enough left for
above two or three days more, though at a short allow
ance. However, though it was early in the morning
when we discovered it, we made it near night before
we reached it, the wind slackening almost to a calm,
and our ship being, as I said, a very dull sailer.

We were sadly baulked upon our coming to the
land, when we found that, instead of the mainland of
Africa, it was only a little island, with no inhabitants
upon it, at least none that we could find ; nor any
cattle, except a few goats, of which we killed three
only. However, they served us for fresh meat, and we
found very good water ; and it was fifteen days more
before we reached the main, which, however, at last
we arrived at, and which was most essential to us, as
we came to it just as all our provisions were spent.
Indeed, we may say they were spent first, for we had
but a pint of water a day to each man for the last two
days. But, to our great joy, we saw the land, though
at a great distance, the evening before, and by a plea
sant gale in the night were by morning within two
leagues of the shore.

We never scrupled going ashore at the first place we
came at, though, had we had patience, we might have
found a very fine river a little farther north. How
ever, we kept our frigate on float by the help of two
great poles, which we fastened into the ground to moor
her, like poles ; and the little weak ropes, which, as I
said, we had made of matting, served us well enough
to make the vessel fast.

As soon as we had viewed the country a little, got

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 53

fresh water, and furnished ourselves with some victuals,
which we found very scarce here, we went on board
again with our stores. All we got for provision was
some fowls that we killed, and a kind of wild buffalo
or bull, very small, but good meat : I say, having got
these things on board, we resolved to sail along the
coast, which lay N.N.E., till we found some creek or
river, that we might run up into the country, or some
town or people ; for we had reason enough to know
the place was inhabited, because we several times saw
fires in the night, and smoke in the day, every way at
a distance from us.

At length we came to a very large bay, and in it
several little creeks or rivers emptying themselves into
the sea, and we ran boldly into the first creek we came
at ; where, seeing some huts and wild people about
them on the shore, we ran our vessel into a little cove
on the north side of the creek, and held up a long
pole, with a white bit of cloth on it, for a signal of
peace to them. We found they understood us pre
sently, for they came flocking to us, men, women, and
children, most of them, of both sexes, stark naked.
At first they stood wondering and staring at us, as if
we had been monsters, and as if they had been frighted ;
but we found they inclined to be familiar with us after
wards. The first thing we did to try them, was, we
held up our hands to our mouths, as if we were to
drink, signifying that we wanted water. This they
understood presently, and three of their women and
two boys ran away up the land, and came back in
about half a quarter of an hour, with several pots,
made of earth, pretty enough, and baked, I suppose, in
the sun ; these they brought us full of water, and set
them down near the sea-shore, and there left them,
going back a little, that we might fetch them, which
we did.

54 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

Some time after this, they brought us roots and
herbs, and some fruits which I cannot remember, and
gave us ; but as we had nothing to give them, we found
them not so free as the people in Madagascar were.
However, our cutler went to work, and, as he had
saved some iron out of the wreck of the ship, he made
abundance of toys, birds, dogs, pins, hooks, and rings ;
and we helped to file them, and make them bright for
him, and when we gave them some of these, they
brought us all sorts of provisions they had, such as
goats, hogs, and cows, and we got victuals enough.

We were now landed upon the continent of Africa,
the most desolate, desert, and inhospitable country in
the world, even Greenland and Nova Zembla itself not
excepted, with this difference only, that even the worst
part of it we found inhabited, though, taking the nature
and quality of some of the inhabitants, it might have
been much better to us if there had been none.

And, to add to the exclamation I am making on the
nature of the place, it was here that we took one of the
rashest, and wildest, and most desperate resolutions
that ever was taken by man, or any number of men, in
the world; this was, to travel overland through the
heart of the country, from the coast of Mozambique,
on the east ocean, to the coast of Angola or Guinea,
on the western or Atlantic Ocean, a continent of land
of at least 1800 miles, in which journey we had ex
cessive heats to support, unpassable deserts to go over,
no carriages, camels, or beasts of any kind to carry our
baggage, innumerable numbers of wild and ravenous
beasts to encounter with, such as lions, leopards, tigers,
lizards, and elephants ; we had the equinoctial line to
pass under, and, consequently, were in the very centre
of the torrid zone ; we had nations of savages to en
counter with, barbarous and brutish to the last degree ;
hunger and thirst to struggle with, and, in one word,

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 55

terrors enough to have daunted the stoutest hearts that
ever were placed in cases of flesh and blood.

Yet, fearless of all these, we resolved to adven
ture, and accordingly made such preparations for our
journey as the place we were in would allow us, and
such as our little experience of the country seemed to
dictate to us.

It had been some time already that we had been
used to tread barefooted upon the rocks, the gravel, the
grass, and the sand on the shore ; but as we found the
worst thing for our feet was the walking or travelling on
the dry burning sands, within the country, so we pro
vided ourselves with a sort of shoes, made of the skins
of wild beasts, with the hair inward, and being dried in
the sun, the outsides were thick and hard, and would
last a great while. In short, as I called them, so I
think the term very proper still, we made us gloves for
our feet, and we found them very convenient and very
comfortable.

We conversed with some of the natives of the
country, who were friendly enough. What tongue
they spoke I do not yet pretend to know. We talked
as far as we could make them understand us, not only
about our provisions, but also about our undertaking,
and asked them what country lay that way, pointing
west with our hands. They told us but little to our
purpose, only we thought, by all their discourse, that
there were people to be found, of one sort or other,
everywhere ; that there were many great rivers, many
lions and tigers, elephants, and furious wild cats (which
in the end we found to be civet cats), and the like.

When we asked them if any one had ever travelled
that way, they told us yes, some had gone to where the
sun sleeps, meaning to the west, but they could not tell
us who they were. When we asked for some to guide
us, they shrunk up their shoulders as Frenchmen do

56 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

when they are afraid to undertake a thing. When we
asked them about the lions and wild creatures, they
laughed, and let us know that they would do us no
hurt, and directed us to a good way indeed to deal with
them, and that was to make some fire, which would
always fright them away ; and so indeed we found it.

Upon these encouragements we resolved upon our
journey, and many considerations put us upon it, which,
had the thing itself been practicable, we were not so
much to blame for as it might otherwise be supposed ;
I will name some of them, not to make the account too
tedious.

First, we were perfectly destitute of means to work
about our own deliverance any other way; we were
on shore in a place perfectly remote from all European
navigation ; so that we could never think of being
relieved, and fetched off by any of our own countrymen
in that part of the world. Secondly, if we had
adventured to have sailed on along the coast of
Mozambique, and the desolate shores of Africa to the
north, till we came to the Red Sea, all we could hope
for there was to be taken by the Arabs, and be sold
for slaves to the Turks, which to all of us was little
better than death. We could not build anything of a
vessel that would carry us over the great Arabian Sea to
India, nor could we reach the Cape de Bona Speranza,
the winds being too variable, and the sea in that latitude
too tempestuous ; but we all knew, if we could cross
this continent of land, we might reach some of the great
rivers that run into the Atlantic Ocean ; and that, on
the banks of any of those rivers, we might there build
us canoes which would carry us down, if it were
thousands of miles, so that we could want nothing but
food, of which we were assured we might kill sufficient
with our guns ; and to add to the satisfaction of our
deliverance, we concluded we might, every one of us,

CAPTAIN SINGLETON. 57

get a quantity of gold, which, if we came safe, would
infinitely recompense us for our toil.

I cannot say that in all our consultations I ever
began to enter into the weight and merit of any
enterprise we went upon till now. My view before
was, as I thought, very good, viz., that we should
get into the Arabian Gulf, or the mouth of the
Red Sea ; and waiting for some vessel passing or
repassing there, of which there is plenty, have seized
upon the first we came at by force, and not only have
enriched ourselves with her cargo, but have carried
ourselves to what part of the world we had pleased ;
but when they came to talk to me of a march of 2000
or 3000 miles on foot, of wandering in deserts among
lions and tigers, I confess my blood ran chill, and I
used all the arguments I could to persuade them
against it.

But they were all positive, and I might as well
have held my tongue ; so I submitted, and told them
I would keep to our first law, to be governed by the
majority, and we resolved upon our journey. The
first thing we did was to take an observation, and see
whereabouts in the world we were, which we did,
and found we were in the latitude of 1 2 degrees 3 5
minutes south of the line. The next thing was to
look on the charts, and see the coast of the country
we aimed at, which we found to be from 8 to 1 1
degrees south latitude, if we went for the coast of
Angola, or in 12 to 29 degrees north latitude, if we
made for the river Niger, and the coast of Guinea.

Our aim was for the coast of Angola, which, by
the charts we had, lying very near the same latitude
we were then in, our course thither was due west ;
and as we were assured we should meet with rivers,
we doubted not but that by their help we might ease
our journey, especially if we could find means to cross

58 LIFE, ADVENTURES, AND PIRACIES OF

the great lake, or inland sea, which the natives call
Coalmucoa, out of which it is said the river Nile has
its source or beginning ; but we reckoned without our
host, as you will see in the sequel of our story.

The next thing we had to consider was, how to
carry our baggage, which we were first of all determined
not to travel without ; neither indeed was it possible
for us to do so, for even our ammunition, which was
absolutely necessary to us, and on which our subsistence,
I mean for food, as well as our safety, and particularly
our defence against wild beasts and wild men, depended,
I say, even our ammunition was a load too heavy
for