 section one of Captain Singleton. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. That's L-I-B-R-I-V-O-X.org. This recording by Dennis Sayers. The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe. As it is usual for great persons, whose lives had been 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 to me, who took me out on a fine summer's evening into the fields towards Eilinton, 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 neighborhood. 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, 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 practiced 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 frided, 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 gypsy, 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 treatment 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 had related, nor who my father and mother were, so it would make but a needless digression to talk of it here. My good gypsy 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 in 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 bustleton. 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 overtaken 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. 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 Cateeth, 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 deliverance, nor indeed was it so much a deliverance to me as it would otherwise have been. For my master, who was the only friend I had in the world, died at Lisbon of his wounds, and I being then almost reduced to my primitive state, that is, 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 do not wither 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 bite of bread, when the pilot of the ship, an old seamen, seeing me look very dull, came to me, and speaking broken English to me, told me I must be gone. Wither 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 live with him for 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 Caravagnes, captain of a Portuguese galleon, or carac, 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, sucades, 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 bays, woolen cloth, stuffs, etc., under the pretense 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 hindrance, at least it served me for an excuse. However, 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 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 errant 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 directions 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 weighed at least a hundred weight. 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 steal, about twenty moindores out of the gold that was shipped on board by the merchants, and this was my first adventure. We had a towerable voyage from hence to the Cape de Bonas-Spiranza, 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 favors from him. Particularly, I was by the captain's command made a kind of a steward under the ship 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 particularly 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 these ship's stores, as above, but I snipped 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 Christians in the world. Thieving, lying, swearing, force swearing, joined to the most abominable lewdness was the stated practice of the ship's crew, adding to it that with the most insufferable boasts of their own courage, they were, generally 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 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 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 entertained such a settled abhorrence of the abandoned vileness of the Portuguese that I could not but hate them most heartily from the beginning and all my life afterwards. 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. And to this, that it is natural to an Englishman to hate a coward, it all joined together to make the devil and the 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 more door 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 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 imaginable, 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 could 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 a 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 chaplain 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 questions 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 that 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 service, or let me know how long he expected I should serve him for nothing. It was all one. Neither the priest nor anyone else could prevail with him, but that I was not his servant, but his slave, that he took me in the Algerin, and that I was a Turk, only pretended to be an English boy to get my liberty, and he would carry me to the Inquisition as a Turk. This frightened me out of my wits, for I had nobody to vouch for me what I was, and 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 frightened, 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 with 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 straighten 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 impossibility 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, 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 execution, 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. End of section one, section two of Captain Singleton. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit LibriVox.org. That's L-I-B-R-I-V-O-X.org. Recording by Dennis Sayers. The Life, Adventures, and Piracies of Captain Singleton by Daniel Defoe. Section two. 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 the Cabo de Bona Speranza, as they call it, we were driven back again by a violent storm from the west southwest, which held us six days and nights a great way to the eastward, and after that, standing before 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 received 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 harbor, where we rid, in twenty-six fathoms, water, about half a mile from the shore. While the ship rode here, there happened a most desperate 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 wish they would with 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 executing these two, and some of the rest, upon their humble submission and promise of future good behavior, 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 the 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 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 behavior, bold and wicked while I was under government, and now perfectly unfit to be trusted with liberty, for I was as right for any villainy as a young fellow that had no solid thought ever placed in his mind could be supposed to be. Education as you have heard, I have 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 mischief, that this stupidity was instead a happiness to me, for it left my thoughts free to act upon means 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 17 or 18, 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 kindness 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 apparently 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 for what I had done to displease him, and indeed the resolution I had taken to murder him lay with some horror upon my mind just at that time, so that I was 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 captain, but could not, and he knew no way for me but 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 endeavor 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 that 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 what he did not know whether the captain would give him leave to give me a gun, and, if not, he durced 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 all set 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 together. The rest of my fellow criminals, hearing that I had a gun and some powder and shot, 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 semen. 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 foals 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 repairing 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 brought us several refreshments and the natives believing we only belonged to the ship were civil enough. We lived in a kind of 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 barbarous, treacherous, and villainous enough in their nature only civil from fear, and therefore concluded we should 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 see, 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 consented 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 behavior 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 in protruding 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 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 boson to speak for them he went up and falling on his knees to the captain begged of him in the humblest manner possible to receive the four men on board again offering to answer for their fidelity were to have them kept in chains till they came to Lisbon and there to be delivered 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 boson to be seized and threatened to bring him to the captain for speaking for them upon this severity one of the seamen bolder than the rest but still with all possible respect to the captain besought his honor 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 then 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 anywhere else that they had been set on shore where they might have been in less hazard from the savages that if he had designed they should be destroyed he could 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 the 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 however 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 23 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 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 the times and go off seeing the captain had given them leave and leave a civil letter behind them to the captain 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 council so long accordingly an hour before day those 23 men with every man a firelock and a cutlass with some pistols three hall birds 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 etc 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 out 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 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 absolutely necessary to them as well for their defense against the savages as to kill fowls or beasts for their food that they might not perish and as there were considerable 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 longboat 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 defense 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 see 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 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 muteness 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 man 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 led and molds to make shot in proportion and to let them see that he was similar to them then they deserved he ordered a cask of iraq and a great bag of bread to be sent them for sustenance till they should be able to furnish themselves the rest of the men applauded the captain's generosity and every one of them sent us something or other and about three in the afternoon the penis 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 penis 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 anyone 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 end of section two section three of captain singleton this libra vox recording is in the public domain recording by denis sayers the life adventures and piracies of captain singleton by daniel defoe we were now a good troop being in all 27 men very well armed and provided with everything 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 on our backs of whom i was one but i had one thing which none of them had is i had the 22 more dories of gold which i had stole at the brazils and two pieces of eight the two pieces of eight i showed and one more dory and none of them ever suspected that i had taken 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 frightened 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 additional 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 dither we could not imagine 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 anything 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 everyone his hand that we would not separate from one another upon any occasion whatsoever 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 everyone 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 than our ship was gone quite away and had cast us off as was our case for the next morning after we had set back the longboat the ship stood away to the southeast 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 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 loath 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 defense 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 complexed at this for they had nothing 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 seamen seeing that was willing to make a good market of his knife and keeping them 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 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 have 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 a fence to them so that our men went daily out 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 mordore and the two dollars I spoke of before this mordore 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 wither 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 let me go into the woods to get them some provisions then 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 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 would 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 councils of disassembly were not a 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 may know objection and the way 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 peri-agua or canoe which might be done with great ease it was presently objected that we could never make a canoe large enough to pass the great ocean which we were to go over to get to the coast of malibar that it not only would not bear the sea but it would never bear the burden for we were not only 27 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 consultations before but finding that 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 whatnot I told them I found they were at a full stop in their councils of every kind that it was true we could never pretend to go over to go on the coast of malibar 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 freshwater 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 seashore 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 please to go excellent advice says one of them admiral 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 all of us 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 downright pirates the end of which is to be hanged you may call us pirates says another and 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 overruled 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 commenced pirate very young but have a care of the gallows young man have a care I say for thou wilt be an imminent 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 the 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 whether we could see nothing but the carpenter continued to hallowed us a sail a sail away we ran 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 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 prospective class which the gunner had in his pocket her sails were full and she stood away large with the wind in east northeast taking no notice of our signal but making for the cape the bonus paranza 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 would 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 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 considerations checked that thought especially when we came to look nearer into it such as want of provisions and no casts for fresh water no compass to steer by no shelter from the breach of the high sea which would certainly founder us no defense 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 and 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 see there happening to be a pretty high swell of the sea though little or no wind yet she wallowed so in the sea that we all of us thought that 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 castle 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 afterwards was a token of amity and friendship and they brought down to us victuals in abundance cattle fouls 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 various 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 consider that this might have brought 10 000 of them of down upon us the next day and though we 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 another 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 heeding 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 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 we're 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 dingland 15 or 16 pounds and so of all the rest thus that which when it was in coin was not worth six pence 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 end of section three read by Dennis Sayers in Modesto California for LibriVox section four of captain singleton this LibriVox recording is in the public domain read by Dennis Sayers the life adventures and piracies of captain singleton by Daniel Defoe in this condition we lived upwards of a year but all 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 see the other way vis 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 the ship of some nation or other that would take us up or perhaps we might take them up which by the by 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 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 casket or pickle and this he did effectually by curing it in the sun with the help of salt peter 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 voyage being only to coast the island we resolved to venture whatever the hazard or consequence of it might be and in order to preserve as much fresh water as we could our carpenter made a well a thwart 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 might step upon it and this was so large that it held near a hog's head 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 a use but necessity is the spur to ingenuity 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 around 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 resolution 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 northwest 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 see after taking all our provisions and ammunition bag and baggage on board we had made both mast and sail for our two large periagwas 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 endeavored 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 this 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 enroad 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 diamond 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 12 days together and having the wind at east and east southeast 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 20 and 30 as dangerous fellows as ever they had amongst them and had they known what we were they would have compounded to give us everything 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 nowhere 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 we're come to that part where the shore tending away to the northwest 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 harbor 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 long to repeat here we did not like the place so we resolved to go on a few days longer after sailing on northwest by north with a fresh gale at southeast 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 harbor 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 there 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 surprised with very bad weather and especially violent rains with thunder and lightning most unusually terrible 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 indeed and therefore our artist of whom i've 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 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 fortified 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 northwest by north 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 12 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 defense on the north a little brook on the west and the south and east sides were fortified with the bank which entirely covered our huts and being drawn oblique from the northwest to the southeast made our city a triangle behind the bank or line our hut 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 abundance of those little diamond cut squares of silver with these we made shift to traffic with the black people for what we wanted for indeed they were pleased wonderfully 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 cooks made 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 salt peter 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 equinoxial when we considered of our next adventure which was to go over the sea of zanguibar 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 too 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 mindfully 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 80 leagues some said there were islands all the way to touch at and 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 stain 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 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 and 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 like 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 20 guns and this sloop and both well manned i would not desire a better place in the world to make myself as rich as a king end of section four read by denis sears of modesto california for libra vox