the most unfortunate of all enterprises to my view; and I went on board a vessel bound to the coast of Africa, or, as our sailors vulgarly call it, a voyage to Guinea.

CHAPTER II.

ROBINSON CRUSOE MAKES TWO VOYAGES TO AFRICA.

It was my lot first of all to fall into pretty good company in London. I first fell acquainted with the master of a ship who had been on the coast of Guinea, and who, having had very good success there, was resolved to go again. This captain, taking a fancy to my conversation, which was not disagreeable at that time, hearing me say I had a mind to see the world, told me, if I would go the voyage with him, I should be at no expense-I should be his messmate, and his companion; and if I could carry anything with me, I should have all the advantage of it that the trade would admit; and perhaps I might meet with some encouragement.

I embraced the offer, and entering into a strict friendship with this captain, who was an honest, plain-dealing man, went the voyage with him, and carried a small adventure with me, which, by the disinterested honesty of my friend the captain, I increased very considerably; for I carried about £40 in such toys and trifles as the captain directed me to buy. This £40 I had mustered together by the assistance of some of my relations whom I corresponded with, and who, I believe, got my father, or at least my mother, to contribute so much as that to my first adventure.

This was the only voyage which I may say was successful in all my adventures, and which I owe to the integrity and honesty of my friend the captain, under whom, also, I got a competent knowledge of the mathematics, and the rules of navigation learned how to keep an account of the ship's course, take an observation, and, in short, to understand some things that were needful to be understood by a sailor; for, as

VOYAGE TO GUINEA.

15

he took delight to instruct me, I took delight to learn. And, in a word, this voyage made me both a sailor and a merchant; for I brought home five pounds nine ounces of gold-dust for my adventure, which yielded me in London at my return, almost £300, and this filled me with those aspiring thoughts which have since so completed my ruin.

I was now set up for a Guinea trader; and my friend, to my great misfortune, dying soon after his arrival, I resolved to go the same voyage again. And I embarked in the same vessel, with one who was his mate in the former voyage, and had now got the command of the ship. This was the unhappiest voyage that ever man made; for though I did not carry off quite £100 of my newly gained wealth, so that I had £200 left, and which I lodged with my friend's widow, who was very just to me, yet I fell into terrible misfortunes in this voyage. And the first was this-viz., our ship, making her course towards the Canary Islands, or rather between those islands and the African shore, was surprised in the grey of the morning by a Moorish rover of Sallee, which gave chase to us with all the sail she could make. We crowded also as much canvas as our yards would spread, or our mast carry, to have got clear; but finding the pirate gained upon us, and would certainly come up with us in a few hours, we prepared to fight, our ship having twelve guns, and the rover eighteen. About three in the afternoon he came up with us, and bringing to by mistake, just athwart our quarter, instead of athwart our stern, as he intended, we brought eight of our guns to bear on that side, and poured in a broadside upon him, which made him sheer off again, after returning our fire, and pouring in also his small shot from near two hundred men, which he had on board. However, we had not a man touched, all our men keeping close. He prepared to attack us again, and we to defend ourselves; but laying us on board the next time upon our other quarter, he entered sixty men upon our decks, who immediately fell to cutting and hacking the decks and rigging. We plied them with small shot, half-pikes, powder-chests, and suchlike, and cleared our deck of them twice. However, to cut short this melancholy part of our story, our ship being disabled, and three of our men killed and eight wounded, we

were obliged to yield, and were carried prisoners into Sallee, a port belonging to the Moors.

The usage I had there was not so dreadful as at first I apprehended; nor was I carried up the country, to the Emperor's court, as the rest of our men were, but was kept by the captain of the rover, as his proper prize, and made his slave, being young and nimble, and fit for business.

As my new patron or master had taken me home to his house, so I was in hopes that he would take me with him when he went to sea again, believing that it would be some time or other his fate to be taken by a Spanish or Portuguese man-of-war, and that then I should be set at liberty. But this hope of mine was soon taken away; for when he went to sea, he left me on shore to look after his little garden, and do the common drudgery of slaves about his house; and when he came home again from his cruise, he ordered me to lie in the cabin to look after the ship.

After about two years, an odd circumstance presented itself, which put the old thought of making some attempt for my liberty again in my head. My patron, lying at home longer than usual, without fitting out his ship, which, as I heard, was for want of money, he used constantly, once or twice a-week, sometimes oftener, if the weather was fair, to take the ship's pinnace, and go out into the roads a-fishing; and as he always took me and a young Moresco with him to row the boat, we made him very merry, and I proved very dexterous in catching fish, insomuch that sometimes he would send me with a Moor, one of his kinsman, and the youth, the Moresco, as they called him, to catch a dish of fish for him.

It happened one time, that going a-fishing with him in a calm morning, a fog rose so thick, that though we were not half a league from the shore, we lost sight of it, and rowing we knew not whither, or which way, we laboured all day, and all the next night, and when the morning came, we found we had pulled off to sea instead of pulling in for the shore, and that we were at least two leagues from the land. However, we got well in again, though with a great deal of labour and some danger, for the wind began to blow pretty fresh in the morning; but particularly, we were all very hungry.

IN THE HANDS OF THE MOORS.

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But our patron, warned by this disaster, resolved to take more care of himself for the future, and having lying by him the long-boat of our English ship, which he had taken, he resolved he could not go a-fishing any more without a compass and some provisions. So he ordered the carpenter of his ship, who was also an English slave, to build a little state-room or cabin in the middle of the long-boat, like that of a barge, with a place to stand behind it to steer and haul home the mainsheet, and room before for a hand or two to stand and work the sails. She sailed with what we call a shoulder-of-mutton sail, and the boom jibbed over the top of the cabin, which lay very snug and low, and had in it room for him to lie, with a slave or two, and a table to eat on, with some small lockers to put in some bottles of such liquor as he thought fit to drinkparticularly his bread, rice, and coffee.

We were frequently out with this boat a-fishing; and as I was most dexterous in catching fish for him, he never went without me. It happened one day that he had appointed to go out in this boat, either for pleasure or fish, with two or three Moors of some distinction, and for whom he had provided extraordinarily, and had therefore sent on board the boat over night a larger store of provisions than usual, and had ordered me to get ready three fusils with powder and shot, which were on board his ship, for that they designed some sport of fowling as well as fishing.

I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out and everything to accommodate his guests, when, by-and-by, my patron came on board alone, and told me his guests had put off going, upon some business that fell out, and ordered me with the man and boy, as usual, to go out with the boat and catch them some fish, for that his friends were to sup at his house. He commanded me, too, that as soon as I had got some fish I should bring them home to his house-all which I prepared to do.

This moment my former notions of deliverance darted into my thoughts-for now I found I was like to have a little ship at my command; and my master being gone, I prepared to furnish myself, not for fishing business, but

B

for a voyage, though I knew not, neither did I consider, whither I would steer; for anywhere to get out of that place was my way.

My first contrivance was to make a pretence to speak to this Moor, to get something for our subsistence on board-for I told him we must not presume to eat of our patron's bread. He said that was true; so he brought a large basket of rusk or biscuit, of their kind, and three jars with fresh water, into the boat. I knew where my patron's case of bottles stood, which, it was evident by the make, were taken out of some English prize, and I conveyed them into the boat while the Moor was on shore, as if they had been there before for our master. I conveyed also a great lump of bees'-wax into the boat, which weighed about half a hundredweight, with a parcel of twine or thread, a hatchet, a saw, and a hammer,— all of which were of great use to us afterwards, especially the wax to make candles. Another trick I tried upon him, which he innocently came into also. His name was Ismael, whom they call Muley, or Moley; so I called to him—

"Moley," said I, "our patron's guns are on board the boat; can you not get a little powder and shot? It may be we may kill some alcamies (a fowl like our curlews) for ourselves, for I know he keeps the gunner's stores in the ship."

"Yes," says he, "I'll bring some."

Accordingly he brought a great leather pouch, which held about a pound and a half of powder, or rather more, and another with shot, that had five or six pounds, with some bullets, and put all into the boat. At the same time I had found some powder of my master's in the great cabin, with which I filled one of the large bottles in the case, which was almost empty, pouring what was in it into another; and thus furnished with everything needful we sailed out of the port to fish. The castle, which is at the entrance of the port, knew who we were, and took no notice of us; and we were not above a mile out of the port before we hauled in our sail, and set us down to fish. The wind blew from the northnorth-east, which was contrary to my desire; for had it blown southerly, I had been sure to have made the coast of Spain, and at least reached to the bay of Cadiz; but my resolutions