an hatchet, which was not only as good a weapon in fome cafes, but much more useful upon many occafions.

I defcribed to him the countries of Europe, and particularly England, which I came from how we lived, how we worshipped GoD, how we behaved to one another, and how we traded in fhips to all the parts of the world: I gave him an account of the wreck which I had been on board of, and fhewed him, as near as I could, the place where fhe lay; but she was all beaten in pieces long before, and quite gone.

I fhewed him the ruins of our boat, which we lost when we efcaped, and which I could not stir with my whole ftrength then, but was now fallen almost all to pieces upon feeing this boat, Friday ftood mufing a great while, and said nothing; I asked him what it was he ftudied upon? At laft, fays he, Me fee fuch boat like come to place at my nation.

:

I did not understand him a good while; but at last, when I had examined further into it, I understood by him, that a boat, fuch as that had been, came on fhore upon the country where he lived; that is, as he explained it, was driven thither by stress of weather I presently imagined, that fome European ship must have been caft away upon their coaft, and the boat might get loofe, and drive afhore; but was fo dull, that I never once thought of men making escape from a wreck thither, much less whence they might come; fo I only enquired after a defcription of the boat.

Friday defcribed the boat to me well enough; but brought me better to understand him, when he added,

with fome warmth, We fave the white mans from drown: then I prefently afked him, if there were any white mans, as he called them, in the boat? Yes, he faid, the boat full of white mans: I afked him, how many? he told upon his fingers feventeen: I asked him then, what became of them? he told me, They live, they dwell at my nation.

This put new thoughts into my head again; for I presently imagined, that these might be the men belonging to the fhip that was caft away in fight of my ifland, as I now call it; and who, after the fhip was ftruck on the rock, and they faw her inevitably loft, had faved themfelves in their boat, and were landed upon that wild fhore among the fa

vages.

Upon this I enquired of him more critically, what was become of them? He affured me they lived ftill there, that they had been there about four years, that the favages let them alone, and gave them victuals to live. I asked him, how it came to pafs they did not kill them, and eat them? he faid, No, they make brother with them: that is, as I understood him, a truce: and then he added, They eat no mans but when make the war fight: that is to fay, they never eat any men, but fuch as come to fight with them, and are taken in battle.

It was after this, fome confiderable time, that being on the top of the hill, at the eaft fide of the ifland, from whence, as I have faid, I had in a clear day difcovered the main or continent of America; Friday, the weather being very ferene, looks very earnestly towards the main land, and in a kind of furprize falls a jumping and dancing, and calls out to me, for I was

at

at fome diftance from him: I asked him what was the matter? O joy! fays he, O glad! there fee my country, there my nation!

I obferved an extraordinary fenfe of pleasure appeared in his face, and his eyes fparkled, and his countenance difcovered a strange eagerness, as if he had a mind to be in his own country again; and this obfervation of mine put a great many thoughts into me; which made me at firft not fo eafy about my new man Friday as I was before; and I made no doubt, but that if Friday could get back to his own nation again, he would not only forget all his religion, but all his obligations to me; and would be forward enough to give his countrymen an account of me, and come back, perhaps, with an hundred or two of them, and make a feaft upon me, at which he might be as merry as he used to be with those of his enemies, when they were taken in war.

But I wronged the poor honeft creature very much, for which I was very forry afterwards: however, as my jealousy increased, and held me fome weeks, I was a little more circumfpect, and not fo familiar and kind to him as before; in which I was certainly in the wrong too, the honeft grateful creature having no thought about it, but what confifted of the best principles, both as a religious Chriftian, and as a grateful friend, as appeared afterwards to my full fatisfaction.

Whilst my jealousy of him lafted, you may be fure I was every day pumping him, to fee if he would difcover any of the new thoughts which I fufpected were in him; but I found every thing he said was so honest, and so innocent, that I could find nothing to nourish

nourish my fufpicion; and, in fpite of all my uneafinefs, he made me at laft entirely his own again; nor did he in the leaft perceive that I was uneafy ; and therefore I could not fufpect him of deceit.

One day, walking up the fame hill, but the wcather being hazy at fea, fo that we could not fee the continent, I called to him, and faid, Friday, do not you wish yourself in your own country, your own nation? Yes, he faid, I be much O glad to be at my own nation. What would you do there? faid I: would you turn wild again, eat men's flesh again, and be a favage as you were before? He looked full of concern, and shaking his head, faid, No, no, Friday tell them to live good, tell them to pray GoD, tell them to eat corn-bread, cattle-flesh, milk, no eat man again. Why then, faid I to him, they will kill you. He looked grave at that, and then faid, No, they no kill me, they willing love learn: he meant by this, they would be willing to learn. He added, they learned much of the bearded mans that came in the boat. Then I asked him, if he would go back to them? He fmiled at that, and told me he could not fwim fa far. I told him I would make a canoe for him. He told me he would go, if I would go with him. I go! faid I, why they will eat me if I come there. No, no, fays he, me make them no cat you, me make they much love you: he meant he would tell them how I had killed his enemies and saved his life, and so he would make them love me. Then he told me, as well as he could, how kind they were to feventeen white men, or bearded men, as he called them, who came on fhore in diftrefs.

From

From this time, I confefs, I had a mind to venture over, and fee if I could poffibly join with these bearded men, who, I made no doubt, were Spaniards or Portuguese; not doubting but, if I could, we might find fome method to escape from thence, being upon the continent, and a good company together, better than I could from an ifland forty miles off the fhore, and alone without help. So, after fome days, I took Friday to work again, by way of difcourfe; and told him, I would give him a boat to go back to his own nation; and accordingly I carried him to my frigate, which lay on the other fide of the island. 1; and having cleared it of water (for I always kept it funk in the water), I brought it out, fhewed it him, and we both went into it.

I found he was a moft dexterous fellow at managing it, would make it go almost as swift and faft again as I could; fo when he was in, I faid to him, Well, now Friday, fhall we go to your nation? He looked very dull at my faying fo, which, it feems, was because he thought the boat too fmall to go fo far. I told him then I had a bigger; fo the next day I went to the place where the first boat lay which I had made, but which I could not get into the water; he said that was big enough; but then, as I had taken no care of it, and it had lain two or three and twenty years there, the fun had split and dryed it, that it was in a manner rotten. Friday told me, fuch a boat would do very well, and would carry much enough vittle, drink, bread,' that was his talking.

way

of

Upon the whole, I was by this time fo fixed upon my defign of going over with with him to the con

tinent,