ong as he lived: I understood him in many things, and let him know I was very well pleased with him; in a little time I began to fpeak to him, and teach him to fpeak to me; and first, I made him know his name should be Friday, which was the day I faved his life; and I called him for the memory of the time; I likewise taught him to fay mafter, and then let him know that was to be my name; I likewife taught him to fay Yes and No, and to know the meaning of them; I gave him fome milk in an earthen pot, and let him fee me drink it before him, and fop my bread in it; and I gave him a cake of bread to do the like, which he quickly complied with, and made figns that it was very good for him. I kept there with him all that night, but as foon as it was day, I beckoned on him to come with me, and let him know I would give him fome clothes, at which he feemed very glad, for he was ftark-naked. As we went by the place where we had buried the two men, he pointed exactly to the fpot, and fhewed me the marks that he had made to find them again, making figns to me that we fhould dig them up again, and eat them; at this I appeared very angry, expreffed my abhorrence of it, made as if I would vomit at the thoughts of it, and beckoned with my hand to him to come away, which, he did immediately, with great fubmiffion: I then led him up to the top of the hill, to fee if his enemies were gone, and pulling out my glass, I looked, and faw plainly the place where they had been, but no appearance of them, or of their canoes; fo that it was plain that they were gone, and had left their comrades behind them, without any fearch after them. But I was not content with this discovery, but having now more courage, and confequently more curiofity, I took my man Friday with me, giving him the fword in his hand, with the bow and arrows at his back, which I found he could use very dexterously, making him carry one gun for me, and I two for myfelf, and away we marched to the place where thefe creatures had been; for I had a mind now to get fome fuller intelligence of them: when I came to the place, my very blood ran chill in my viens, and my heart fuck within me at the horror of the fpectacle; indeed it was a dreadful fight, I 2 at least it was so to me, though Friday made nothing of it: the place was covered with human bones, the ground dyed with the blood, great pieces of flesh left here and there, half eaten, mangled, and fcorched; and in fhort, all the tokens of the triumphant feaft they had been making there, after a victory over their enemies: I faw three skulls, five hands, and the bones of three or four legs and feet, and abundance of other parts of the bodies; and Friday, by his figns, made me underftand, that they brought over four prifoners to feast upon; that three of them were eaten up, and that he, pointing to himself, was the fourth; that there had been a great battle between them and their next king, whose subjects, it feems, he had been one of; and that they had taken a great number of prifoners, all which were carried to feveral places by thofe that had taken them in the flight, in order to feaft upon them, as was done here by these wretches upon those they brought hither. I caufed Friday to gather all the skulls, bones, flesh, and whatever remained, and lay them together on an heap, and make a great fire upon it, and burn them all to afhes: I found Friday had ftill an hankering ftomach after fome of the flesh, and was still a canibal in his nature; but I discovered so much abhorrence at the very thoughts of it, and at the leaft appearance of it, that he durft not discover it; for I had, by fome means, let him know, that I would kill him if he offered it. as my When we had done this, we came back to our castle, and there I fell to work for my man Friday; and firft of all, I gave him a pair of linen drawers, which I had out of the poor gunner's cheft I mentioned, and which I found in the wreck; and which, with a little alteration, fitted him very well; then I made him a jerkin of goat's skin, as well fkiH would allow, and I was now grown a tolerable good taylor; and I gave him a cap, which I had made of an hare-fkin, very convenient, and fashionable enough and thus he was drefled, for the prefent, tolerably well, and mighty well was he pleased to see himself almost as well clothed as his master: it is true he went aukwardly in these things at firft; wearing the drawers was very aukward to him, and the fleeves of the waistcoat galled his shoulders, and the infide of his arms; but a little eafing : eafing them, where he complained they hurt him, and ufing himself to them, at length he took to them very well. The next day after I came home to my hutch with him, I began to confider where I fhould lodge him; and that I might do well for him, and yet be perfectly easy myself, I made a little tent for him in the vacant place between my two fortifications, in the infide of the last, and in the outside of the firft: And as there was a door or entrance there into my cave, I made a formal framed door-cafe, and a door to it of boards, and set it up in the paffage, a little within the entrance; and caufing the door to open on the infide, I barred it up in the night, taking in my ladders too; fo that Friday could no way come at me in the infide of my innermoft wall, without making fo much noife in getting over, that it muft needs awaken me; for my firft wall had now a complete roof over it of long poles, covering all my tent and leaning up to the fide of the hill, which was again laid cross with fmall sticks inftead of laths, and then thatched over a great thickness with the rice ftraw, which was strong like reeds; and at the hole or place which was left to go in or out by the ladder, I had placed a kind of trap door, which if it had been attempted on the outside, would not have opened at all, but would have fallen down, and made a great noife; and as to weapons, I took them all in to my fide every night. But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more faithful, loving, fincere fervant than Friday was to me; without paffions, fullennefs, or defigns; perfectly obliging and engaging; his very affec tions were tied to me, like thofe of a child to a father; and I dare fay, he would have facrificed his life for the faving mine, upon any occafion whatsoever: the many teftimonies he gave me of this, put it out of doubt; and foon convinced me, that I needed to ufè no precautions as to my fafety on his account. This frequently gave me occafion to observe, and that with wonder, that, however it had pleased God in his providence, and in the government of the works of his hands to take from fo great a part of the world of his creatures, the best uses to which their faculties, and the powers of their fouls, are adapted; yet that he has be 13 ftowed |