be in time master of every mechanic art. I had never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time, by labour, application, and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could have made it, especially if I had had tools; however, I made abundance of things even without tools, and some with no more tools than an adze and a hatchet, which perhaps, were never made that way before, and that with infinite labour – for example, if I wanted a board, I had no other way but to cut down a tree, set it on edge before me, and hew it flat on either side with my axe, till I had brought it to be as thin as a plank, and then dub it smooth with my adze. It is true, by this method I could make but one board out of a whole tree; but this I had no remedy for but patience, any more than I had for the prodigious deal of time and labour which it took me up to make a plank or board; but my time and labour were little worth, and so they were as well employed one way as another.
However, I made me a table and a chair, as I observed above, in the first place – and this I did out of the short pieces of boards that I brought on my raft from the ship: but, when I had wrought out some boards, as above, I made large shelves of the breadth of a foot and a half, one over another, all along one side of my cave, to lay all my tools, nails, and iron-work, and in a word, to separate everything at large in their places, that I might come easily at them. I knocked pieces into the wall of the rock to hang my guns, and all things that would hang up.
So that, had my cave been to be seen, it looked like a general magazine of all necessary things; and I had everything so ready at my hand, that it was a great pleasure to me to see all my goods in such order, and especially to find my stock of all necessaries so great.
And now it was that I began to keep a journal of every day’s employment; for indeed at first I was in too much a hurry; and not only hurry as to labour, but in too much discomposure of mind, and my journal would have been full of many dull things. For example, I must have said thus: – September the 30th, after I got to shore, and had escaped drowning, instead of being thankful to God for my deliverance, having first vomited with the great quantity of salt water which was gotten into my stomach, and recovering myself a little, I ran about the shore, wringing my hands, and beating my head and face, exclaiming at my misery, and crying out, I was undone, undone! till, tired and faint, I was forced to lie down on the ground to repose, but durst not sleep for fear of being devoured.
Some days after this, and after I had been on board the ship, and got all that I could out of her, yet I could not forbear getting up to the top of a little mountain, and looking out to sea, in hopes of seeing a ship; then fancy at a vast distance I spied a sail – please myself with the hopes of it – and then, after looking steadily till I was almost blind, lose it quite, and sit down and weep like a child, and thus increase my misery by my folly.
But having gotten over these things in some measure and having settled my household stuff and habitation, made me a table and a chair, and all as handsome about me as I could, I began to keep my journal, of which I shall here give you the copy (though in it will be told all these particulars over again), as long as it lasted; for having no more ink, I was forced to leave it off.
THE JOURNAL
I begin a Journal – Various Schemes to
make Tools, etc. – Begin to build a house –
Discover Corn – Earthquake and Storm
– September 30, 1659.
I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked during a dreadful storm in the offing, came on shore on this dismal, unfortunate island, which I called the Island of Despair; all the rest of the ship’s company being drowned, and myself almost dead.
All the rest of that day I spent in afflicting myself at the dismal circumstances I was brought to, namely, I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon, nor place to fly to, and in despair of any relief, saw nothing but death before me, either that I should be devoured by wild beasts, murdered by savages, or starved to death for want of food. At the approach of night I slept in a tree, for fear of wild creatures, but slept soundly, though it rained all night.
October I. – In the morning, I saw to my great surprise, the ship had floated with the high tide, and was driven on shore again much nearer the island; which, as it was some comfort on one hand, for seeing her sit upright, and not broken to pieces, I hoped, if the wind abated, I might get on board, and get some food and necessaries out of her for my relief; so, on the other hand, it renewed my grief at the loss of my comrades, who, I imagined, if we had all stayed on board, might have saved the ship, or at least that they would not have been all drowned as they were; and that had the men been saved we might perhaps have built us a boat out of the ruins of the ship, to have carried us to some other part of the world, I spent great part of this day in perplexing myself on these things; but at length, seeing the ship almost dry, I went upon the sand as near as I could, and then swam on board. This day also it continued raining, though with no wind at all.
From the 1st of October to the 24th. – All these days entirely spent in many several voyages to get all I could out of the ship, which I brought on shore, every tide of flood, upon rafts. Much rain also in these days, though with some intervals of fair weather; but it seems this was the rainy season.
Oct. 20. – I overset my raft, and all the goods I had upon it; but being in shoal water, and the things being chiefly heavy, I recovered many of them when the tide was out.
Oct. 25. – It rained all night and all day, with some gusts of wind; during which time the ship broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little harder than before, and was no more to be seen except the wreck of her, and that only at low water. I spent this day in covering and securing the goods which I had saved, that rain might not spoil them.
Oct. 26. – I walked about the shore almost all day, to find out a place to fix my habitation, greatly concerned to secure myself from any attack in the night, either from wild beasts or men. Towards night I fixed upon a proper place under a rock, and marked out a semicircle for my encampment, which I resolved to strengthen with a work, wall, or fortification, made of double piles, lined within with cable, and without with turf.
From the 26th to the 30th I worked very hard in carrying all my goods to my new habitation, though some part of the time it rained exceedingly hard.
The 31st, in the morning, I went out into the island with my gun, to seek for some food, and discover the country; when I killed a she-goat, and her kid followed me home, which I afterwards killed also, because it would not feed.
November 1. – I set up my tent under a rock, and lay there for the first night, making it as large as I could, with stakes driven in to swing my hammock upon.
Nov. 2. – I set up all my chests and boards, and the pieces of timber, which made my rafts, and with them formed a fence round me, a little within the place I had marked out for my fortification.
Nov. 3. – I went out with my gun, and killed two fowls like ducks, which were very good food. In the afternoon, went to work to make me a table.
Nov. 4. – This morning I began to order my times of work – of going out with my gun, time of sleep, and time of diversion: namely, every morning, I walked out with my gun for two or three hours, if it did not rain, then employed myself to work till about eleven o’clock, then ate what I had to live on, and from twelve till two I lay down to sleep, the weather being excessively hot, and then in the evening to work again. The working part of this day and of the next were wholly employed in making my table, for I was yet
