THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES
OF ROBINSON CRUSOE
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.
About an hour after, they made a motion to attack us again, and rode round our little wood, to see where else they might break in; but finding us always ready to face them, they went off again, and we resolved not to stir from the place for that night.
We slept but little, you may be sure; but spent the most part of the night in strengthening our situation, and barricading the entrances into the wood; and, keeping a strict watch, we waited for daylight, and, when it came, it gave us a very unwelcome discovery indeed: for the enemy, who we thought were discouraged with the reception they had met with, were now increased to no less than three hundred, and had set up eleven or twelve huts and tents, as if they were resolved to besiege us; and this little camp they had pitched, was upon the open plain, at about three quarters of a mile from us. We were indeed surprised at this discovery; and now, I confess, I gave myself over for lost, and all that I had. The loss of my effects did not lie so near me (though they were very considerable) as the thoughts of falling into the hands of such barbarians, at the latter end of my journey, after so many difficulties and hazards as I had gone through; and even in sight of our port, where we expected safety and deliverance. As for my partner, he was raging: he declared, that to lose his goods would be his ruin; and he would rather die than be starved; and he was for fighting to the last drop.
The young lord, as gallant as ever flesh shewed itself, was for fighting to the last also; and my old pilot was of the opinion we were able to resist them all, in the situation we then were in: and thus we spent the day in debates of what we should do; but towards evening, we found that the number of our enemies still increased: perhaps, as they were abroad in several parties for prey, the first had sent out scouts to call for help, and to acquaint them of their booty; and we did not know but by the morning they might still be a greater number; so I began to inquire of those people we had brought from Tobolski, if there were no other, or more private ways, by which we might avoid them in the night, and perhaps either retreat to some town, or get help to guard us over the desert.
The Siberian, who was servant to the young lord, told us, if we designed to avoid them, and not fight, he would engage to carry us off in the night to a way that went north towards the river Petraz, by which he made no doubt but we might get away, and the Tartars never the wiser; but he said, his lord had told him he would not return, but would rather choose to fight. I told him, he mistook his lord; for that he was too wise a man to love fighting for the sake of it; that I knew his lord was brave enough by what he had shewed already; but that his lord knew better than to desire to have seventeen or eighteen men fight five hundred, unless an unavoidable necessity forced them to it; and that if he thought it possible for us to escape in the night, we had nothing else to do but to attempt it. He answered, if his lord gave him such order, he would lose his life if he did not perform it. We soon brought his lord to give that order, though privately, and we immediately prepared for the putting it in practice.
And first, as soon as it began to be dark, we kindled a fire in our little camp, which we kept burning, and prepared so as to make it burn all night, that the Tartars might conclude we were still there; but, as soon as it was dark, that is to say, so as we could see the stars, (for our guide would not stir before) having all our horses and camels ready loaded, we followed our new guide, who, I soon found, steered himself by the pole or north star, all the country being level for a long way.
After we had travelled two hours very hard, it began to be lighter still; not that it was quite dark all night, but the moon; began to rise; so that, in short, it was rather lighter than we wished it to be; but by six o'clock next morning we were gotten near forty miles, though the truth is, we almost spoiled our horses. Here we found a Russian village, named Kirmazinskoy, where we rested, and heard, nothing of the Kalmuck Tartars that day. About two hours before night we set out again, and travelled till eight the next morning, though not quite so hastily as before; and about seven o'clock we passed a little river, called Kirtza, and came to a good large town inhabited by Russians, and very populous, called Ozomya. There we heard, that several troops or herds of Kalmucks had been abroad upon the desert, but that we were now completely out of danger of them, which was to our great satisfaction, you may be sure. Here we were obliged to get some fresh horses, and having need enough of rest, we staid five days; and my partner and I agreed to give the honest Siberian, who brought us hither, the value of ten pistoles for his conducting us.
In five days more we came to Veussima, upon the river Witzogda, which running into the river Dwina, we were there very happily near the end of our travels by land, that river being navigable in seven days passage to Archangel. From hence we came to Lawrenskoy, where the river joins, the third of July; and provided ourselves with two luggage-boats, and a barge, for our convenience. We embarked the seventh, and arrived all safe at Archangel the eighteenth, having been a year, five months, and three days on the journey, including our stay of eight months and odd days at Tobolski.
We were obliged to stay at this place six weeks for the arrival of the ships, and must have tarried longer, had not a Hamburgher come in above a month sooner than any of the English ships; when after some consideration, that the city of Hamburgh might happen to be as good a market for our goods as London, we all took freight with him; and having put our goods on board, it was most natural for me to put my steward, on board to take care of them; by which means my young lord had a sufficient opportunity to conceal himself, never coming on shore again in all the time we staid there; and this he did, that he might not be seen in the city, where some of the Moscow merchants would certainly have seen and discovered him.
We sailed from Archangel the twentieth of August the same year; and, after no extraordinary bad voyage, arrived in the Elbe the thirteenth of September. Here my partner and I found a very good sale for our goods, as well those of China, as the sables, &c. of Siberia; and dividing the produce of our effects my share amounted to 3475 l. 17s. 3d. notwithstanding so many losses we had sustained, and charges we had been at; only remembering that I had included, in this, about 600l. worth of diamonds, which I had purchased at Bengal.
Here the young lord took his leave of us, and went up to the Elbe, in order to go to the court of Vienna, where he resolved to seek protection, and where he could correspond with those of his father's friends who were left alive. He did not part without all the testimonies he could give of gratitude for the service I had done him, and his sense of my kindness to the prince his father.
To conclude: having staid near four mouths in Hamburgh, I came from thence over land to the Hague, where I embarked in the packet, and arrived in London the tenth of January 1705, having been gone from England ten years and nine months.
And here, resolving to harass myself no more, I am preparing for a longer journey than all these, having lived seventy-two years a life of infinite variety, and learnt sufficiently to know the value of retirement, and the blessing of ending our days in peace.
The End
