The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808)

"Nor, Sir," said he, "do I bring my mind to this politically, by the necessity of my circumstances, which some call miserable; but if I know any thing of myself, I would not go back, no not though my master, the czar, should call me, and offer to reinstate me in all my former grandeur; I say, I would no more go back to it, than I believe my soul, when it shall be delivered from this prison of the body, and has had a taste of the glorious state beyond life, would come back to the gaol of flesh and blood it is now enclosed in, and leave Heaven to deal in the dirt and grime of human affairs."

He spake this with so much warmth in his temper, so much earnestness and motion of his spirits, which were apparent in his countenance, that it was evident it was the true sense of his soul; and indeed there was no room to doubt his sincerity.

I told him, I once thought myself a kind of a monarch in my old station, of which I had given him an account, but that I thought he was not a monarch only, but a great conqueror; for that he that has got a victory over his own exorbitant desires, and has the absolute dominion over himself, and whose reason entirely governs his will, is certainly greater than he that conquers a city. "But, my lord," said I, "shall I take the liberty to ask you a question?" – "With all my heart," said he. "If the door of your liberty was opened," said I, "would not you take hold of it to deliver yourself from this exile?"

"Hold," said he, "your question is subtle, and requires some serious just distinctions to give it a sincere answer; and I'll give it you from the bottom of my heart. Nothing that I know of in this world would move me to deliver myself from the state of banishment, except these two: first, the enjoyment of my relations; and secondly, a little warmer climate. But I protest to you, that to go back to the pomp of the court, the glory, the power, the hurry of a minister of state; the wealth, the gaiety, and the pleasures, that is to say, follies of a courtier; if my master should send me word this moment, that he restores me to all he banished me from, I protest, if I know myself at all, I would not leave this wilderness, these deserts, and these frozen lakes, for the palace of Moscow."

"But, my lord," said I, "perhaps you not only are banished from the pleasures of the court, and from the power, and authority, and wealth, you enjoyed before, but you may be absent too from some of the conveniencies of life; your estate, perhaps, confiscated, and your effects plundered; and the supplies left you here may not be suitable to the ordinary demands of life."

"Ay," said he, "that is, as you suppose me to be a lord, or a prince, &c. So indeed I am; but you are now to consider me only as a man, a human creature, not at all distinguished from another; and so I can suffer no want, unless I should be visited with sickness and distempers. However, to put the question out of dispute; you see our manner; we are in this place five persons of rank; we live perfectly retired; as suited to a state of banishment; we have something rescued from the shipwreck of our fortunes, which keeps us from the mere necessity of hunting for our food; but the poor soldiers who are here, without that help, live in as much plenty as we. They go into the woods, and catch sables and foxes; the labour of a month will maintain them a year; and as the way of living is not expensive, so it is not hard to get sufficient to ourselves: so that objection is out of doors."

I have no room to give a full account of the most agreeable conversation I had with this truly great man; in all which he shewed, that his mind was so inspired with a superior knowledge of things, so supported by religion, as well as by a vast share of wisdom, that his contempt of the world was really as much as he had expressed, and that he was always the same to the last, as will appear in the story I am going to tell.

I had been here eight months, and a dark dreadful winter I thought it to be. The cold was so intense, that I could not so much as look abroad without being wrapt in furs, and a mask of fur before my face, or rather a hood, with only a hole for breath, and two for sight. The little daylight we had, as we reckoned, for three months, not above five hours a day, or six at most; only that the snow lying on the ground continually, and the weather being clear, it was never quite dark. Our horses were kept (or rather starved) under ground; and as for our servants, (for we hired servants here to look after our horses and ourselves) we had every now and then their fingers and toes to thaw, and take care of, lest they should mortify and fall off.

It is true, within doors we were warm, the houses being close, the walls thick, the lights small, and the glass all double. Our food was chiefly the flesh of deer, dried and cured in the season; good bread enough, but baked as biscuits; dried fish of several sorts, and some flesh of mutton, and of buffaloes, which is pretty good beef. All the stores of provision for the winter are laid up in the summer, and well cured. Our drink was water mixed with aqua vitæ instead of brandy; and, for a treat, mead instead of wine; which, however, they have excellent good. The hunters, who ventured abroad all weathers, frequently brought us in fresh venison, very fat and good; and sometimes bear's flesh, but we did not much care for the last. We had a good stock of tea, with which we treated our friends as above; and, in a word, we lived very cheerfully and well, all things considered.

It was now March, and the days grown considerably longer, and the weather at least tolerable; so other travellers began to prepare sledges to carry them over the snow, and to get things ready to be going; but my measures being fixed, as I have said, for Archangel, and not for Muscovy or the Baltic, I made no motion, knowing very well, that the ships from the south do not set out for that part of the world till May or June; and that if I was there at the beginning of August, it would be as soon as any ships would be ready to go away; and therefore, I say, I made no haste to be gone, as others did; in a word, I saw a great many people, nay, all the travellers, go away before me. It seems, every year they go from thence to Moscow for trade; viz. to carry furs, and buy necessaries with them, which they bring back to furnish their shops; also others went on the same errand to Archangel; but then they also, being to come back again above eight hundred miles, went all out before me.

In short, about the latter end of May I began to make all ready to pack up; and as I was doing this, it occurred to me, that seeing all these people were banished by the czar of Muscovy to Siberia, and yet, when they came there, were at liberty to go whither they would; why did they not then go away to any part of the world wherever they thought fit? and I began to examine what should hinder them from making such an attempt.

But my wonder was over, when I entreated upon that subject with the person I have mentioned, who answered me thus: "Consider, first," said he, "the place where we are; and, secondly, the condition we are in; especially," said he, "the generality of the people who are banished hither. We are surrounded," said he, "with stronger things than bars and bolts: on the north side is an unnavigable ocean, where ship never sailed, and boat never swam; neither, if we had both, could we know whither to go with them. Every other way," said he, "we have above a thousand miles to pass through the czar's own dominions, and by ways utterly impassable, except by the roads made by the government, and through the towns garrisoned by its troops; so that we could neither pass undiscovered by the road, or subsist any other way: so that it is in vain to attempt it."

I was silenced indeed, at once, and found that they were in a prison, every jot as secure as if they had been locked up in the castle of Moscow; however, it came into my thoughts, that I might certainly be made an instrument to procure the escape of this excellent person, and that it was very easy for me to carry him away, there being no guard over him in the country; and as I was not going to Moscow, but to Archangel, and that I went in the nature of a caravan, by which I was not obliged to lie in the stationary towns in the desert, but could encamp every night where I would, might easily pass uninterrupted to Archangel, where I could immediately secure him on board an English or Dutch ship, and carry him off safe along with me; and as to his subsistence, and other particulars, that should be my care, till he should better supply himself.

He heard me very attentively, and looked earnestly on me all the while I spoke; nay, I could see in his very face, that what I said put his spirits into an exceeding ferment; his colour frequently changed, his eyes looked red, and his heart fluttered, that it might be even perceived in his countenance; nor could he immediately answer me when I had done, and, as it were, expected what he would say to it; and after he had paused a little, he embraced me, and said, "How unhappy are we! unguided creatures as we are, that even our greatest acts of friendship are made snares to us, and we are made tempters of one another! My dear friend," said he, "your offer is so sincere, has such kindness in it, is so disinterested in itself, and is so calculated for my advantage, that I must have very little knowledge of the world, if I did not both wonder at it, and acknowledge the obligation I have upon me to you for it: but did you believe I was sincere in what I have so often said to you of my contempt of the world? Did you believe I spoke my very soul to you, and that I had really maintained that degree of felicity here, that had placed me above all that the world could give me, or do for me? Did you believe I was sincere, when I told you I would not go back, if I was recalled even to be all that once I was in the court, and with the favour of the czar my master? Did you believe me, my friend, to be an honest man, or did you think me to be a boasting hypocrite?" Here he stopped, as if he would hear what I would say; but, indeed, I soon after perceived, that he stopped because his spirits were in motion: his heart was full of struggles, and he could not go on. I was, I confess, astonished at the thing, as well as at the man, and I used some arguments with him to urge him to set himself free; that he ought to look upon this as a door opened by Heaven for his deliverance, and a summons by Providence, who has the care and good disposition of all events, to do himself good, and to render himself useful in the world.

He had by this time recovered himself. "How do you know, Sir," said he, warmly, "but that, instead of a summons from Heaven, it may be a feint of another instrument, representing, in all the alluring colours to me, the show of felicity as a deliverance, which may in itself be my snare, and tend directly to my ruin? Here I am free from the temptation of returning to my former miserable greatness; there I am not sure, but that all the seeds of pride, ambition, avarice, and luxury, which I know remain in my nature, may revive and take root, and, in a word, again overwhelm me; and then the happy prisoner, whom you see now master of his soul's liberty, shall be the miserable slave of his own senses, in the full possession of all personal liberty. Dear Sir, let me remain in this blessed confinement, banished from the crimes of life, rather than purchase a show of freedom at the expense of the liberty of my reason, and at the expense of the future happiness which now I have in my view, but shall then, I fear, quickly lose sight of; for I am but flesh, a man, a mere man, have passions and affections as likely to possess and overthrow me as any man: O be not my friend and my tempter both together!"

If I was surprised before, I was quite dumb now, and stood silent, looking at him; and, indeed, admired what I saw. The struggle in his soul was so great, that, though the weather was extremely cold, it put him into a most violent sweat, and I found he wanted to give vent to his mind; so I said a word or two, that I would leave him to consider of it, and wait on him again; and then I withdrew to my own apartment.

About two hours after, I heard somebody at or near the door of the room, and I was going to open the door; but he had opened it, and come in: "My dear friend," said he, "you had almost overset me, but I am recovered: do not take it ill that I do not close with your offer; I assure you, it is not for want of a sense of the kindness of it in you; and I come to make the most sincere acknowledgment of it to you; but, I hope, I have got the victory over myself."

"My lord," said I, "I hope you are fully satisfied, that you did not resist the call of Heaven." – "Sir," said he, "if it had been from Heaven, the same power would have influenced me to accept it; but I hope, and am fully satisfied, that it is from Heaven that I decline it; and I have an infinite satisfaction in the parting, that you shall leave me an honest man still, though not a free man."

I had nothing to do but to acquiesce, and make profession to him of my having no end in it, but a sincere desire to serve him. He embraced me very passionately, and assured me, he was sensible of that, and should always acknowledge it: and with that he offered me a very fine present of sables, too much indeed for me to accept from a man in his circumstances; and I would have avoided them, but he would not be refused.

The next morning I sent my servant to his lordship, with a small present of tea, two pieces of China damask, and four little wedges of Japan gold, which, did not all weigh above six ounces, or thereabouts; but were far short of the value of his sables, which indeed, when I came to England, I found worth near two hundred pounds. He accepted the tea, and one piece of the damask, and one of the pieces of gold, which had a fine stamp upon it, of the Japan coinage, which I found he took for the rarity of it, but would not take any more; and sent word by my servant, that he desired to speak with me.

When I came to him, he told me, I knew what had passed between us, and hoped I would not move him any more in that affair; but that, since I made such a generous offer to him, he asked me, if I had kindness enough to offer the same to another person that he would name to me, in whom he had a great share of concern. I told him, that I could not say I inclined to do so much for any one but himself, for whom I had a particular value, and should have been glad to have been the instrument of his deliverance: however, if he would please to name the person to me, I would give him my answer, and hoped he would not be displeased with me, if he was with my answer. He told me, it was only his son, who, though I had not seen, yet was in the same condition with himself, and above two hundred miles from him, on the other side the Oby; but that, if I consented, he would send for him.

I made no hesitation, but told him I would do it. I made some ceremony in letting him understand that it was wholly on his account; and that seeing I could not prevail on him, I would shew my respect to him by my concern for his son: but these things are too tedious to repeat here. He sent away the next day for his son, and in about twenty days he came back with the messenger, bringing six or seven horses loaded with very rich furs, and which, in the whole, amounted to a very great value.

His servants brought the horses into the town, but left the young lord at a distance till night, when he came incognito into our apartment, and his father presented him to me; and, in short, we concerted there the manner of our travelling, and every thing proper for the journey.

I had bought a considerable quantity of sables, black fox-skins, fine ermines, and such other furs that are very rich; I say, I had bought them in that city for exchange for some of the goods brought from China; in particular, for the cloves and nutmegs, of which I sold the greatest part here; and the rest afterwards at Archangel, for a much better price than I could have done at Louden; and my partner, who was sensible of the profit, and whose business, more particularly than mine, was merchandise, was mightily pleased with our stay, on account of the traffic we made here.

It was in the beginning of June when I left this remote place, a city, I believe, little heard of in the world; and, indeed, it is so far out of the road of commerce, that I know not how it should be much talked of. We were now come to a very small caravan, being only thirty-two horses and camels in all, and all of them passed for mine, though my new guest was proprietor of eleven of them. It was most natural also, that I should take more servants with me than I had before, and the young lord passed for my steward; what great man I passed for myself I know not, neither did it concern me to inquire. We had here the worst and the largest desert to pass over that we met with in all the journey; indeed I call it the worst, because the way was very deep in some places, and very uneven in others; the best we had to say for it was, that we thought we had no troops of Tartars and robbers to fear, and that they never came on this side the river Oby, or at least but very seldom; but we found it otherwise.

My young lord had with him a faithful Muscovite servant, or rather a Siberian servant, who was perfectly acquainted with the country; and who led us by private roads, that we avoided coming into the principal towns and cities upon the great road, such as Tumen, Soloy Kamaskoy, and several others; because the Muscovite garrisons, which are kept there, are very curious and strict in their observation upon travellers, and searching lest any of the banished persons of note should make their escape that way into Muscovy; but by this means, as we were kept out of the cities, so our whole journey was a desert, and we were obliged to encamp and lie in our tents, when we might have had good accommodation in the cities on the way: this the young lord was so sensible of, that he would not allow us to lie abroad, when we came to several cities on the way; but lay abroad himself, with his servant, in the woods, and met us always at the appointed places.

We were just entered Europe, having passed the river Kama, which, in these parts, is the boundary between Europe and Asia; and the first city on the European side was called Soloy Kamaskoy, which is as much as to say, the great city on the river Kama; and here we thought to have seen some evident alteration in the people, their manners, their habit, their religion, and their business; but we were mistaken; for as we had a vast desert to pass, which, by relation, is near seven hundred miles long in some places, but not above two hundred miles over where we passed it; so, till we came past that horrible place, we found very little difference between that country and the Mogul Tartary; the people mostly Pagans, and little better than the savages of America; their houses and towns full of idols, and their way of living wholly barbarous, except in the cities as above, and the villages near them; where they are Christians, as they call themselves, of the Greek church; but even these have their religion mingled with so many relics of superstition, that it is scarce to be known in some places from mere sorcery and witchcraft.

In passing this forest, I thought indeed we must, after all our dangers were, in our imagination, escaped, as before, have been plundered and robbed, and perhaps murdered, by a troop of thieves: of what country they were; whether the roving bands of the Ostiachi, a kind of Tartars, or wild people on the banks of the Oby, had ranged thus far; or whether they were the sable-hunters of Siberia, I am yet at a loss to know; but they were all on horseback, carried bows and arrows, and were at first about five-and-forty in number. They came so near to us as within about two musket shot; and, asking no questions, they surrounded us with their horses, and looked very earnestly upon us twice. At length they placed themselves just in our way; upon which we drew up in a little line before our camels, being not above sixteen men in all; and being drawn up thus, we halted, and sent out the Siberian servant who attended his lord, to see who they were: his master was the more willing to let him go, because he was not a little apprehensive that they were a Siberian troop sent out after him. The man came up near them with a flag of truce, and called to them; but though he spoke several of their languages, or dialects of languages rather, he could not understand a word they said: however, after some signs to him not to come nearer to them at his peril, so he said he understood them to mean, offering to shoot at him if he advanced, the fellow came back no wiser than he went, only that by their dress, he said, he believed them to be some Tartars of Kalmuck, or of the Circassian hordes; and that there must be more of them on the great desert, though he never heard that ever any of them were seen so far north before.

This was small comfort to us; however, we had no remedy: there was on our left hand, at about a quarter of a mile's distance, a little grove or clump of trees, which stood close together, and very near the road; I immediately resolved we should advance to those trees, and fortify ourselves as well as we could there; for, first, I considered that the trees would in a great measure cover us from their arrows; and in the next place, they could not come to charge us in a body: it was, indeed, my old Portuguese pilot who proposed it; and who had this excellency attending him, namely, that he was always readiest and most apt to direct and encourage us in cases of the most danger. We advanced immediately with what speed we could, and gained that little wood, the Tartars, or thieves, for we knew not what to call them, keeping their stand, and not attempting to hinder us. When we came thither, we found, to our great satisfaction, that it was a swampy, springy piece of ground, and, on the other side, a great spring of water, which, running out in a little rill or brook, was a little farther joined by another of the like bigness; and was, in short, the head or source of a considerable river, called afterwards the Wirtska. The trees which grew about this spring were not in all above two hundred, but were very large, and stood pretty thick; so that as soon as we got in, we saw ourselves perfectly safe from the enemy, unless they alighted and attacked us on foot.

But to make this more difficult, our Portuguese, with indefatigable application, cut down great arms of the trees, and laid them hanging, not cut quite off, from one tree to another; so that he made a continued fence almost round us.

We staid here, waiting the motion of the enemy some hours, without perceiving they made any offer to stir; when about two hours before night, they came down directly upon us; and, though we had not perceived it, we found they had been joined by some more of the same, so that they were near fourscore horse, whereof, however, we fancied some were women. They came in till they were within half a shot of our little wood, when we fired one musket without ball, and called to them in the Russian tongue, to know what they wanted, and bid them keep off; but, as if they knew nothing of what we said, they came on with a double fury directly to the wood-side, not imagining we were so barricaded, that they could not break in. Our old pilot was our captain, as well as he had been our engineer; and desired of us, not to fire upon them till they came within pistol shot, that we might be sure to kill; and that, when we did fire, we should be sure to take good aim. We bade him give the word of command; which he delayed so long, that they were, some of them, within two pikes length of us when we fired.

We aimed so true, (or Providence directed our shot so sure) that we killed fourteen of them at the first volley, and wounded several others, as also several of their horses; for we had all of us loaded our pieces with two or three bullets apiece at least.

They were terribly surprised with our fire, and retreated immediately about one hundred rods from us; in which time we loaded our pieces again, and, seeing them keep that distance, we sallied out, and caught four or five of their horses, whose riders, we supposed, were killed; and coming up to the dead, we could easily perceive they were Tartars, but knew not from what country, or how they came to make an excursion such an unusual length.