The Life & Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe Part-7

 

The Life & Adventures Of  Robinson Crusoe Part-7

Bending my Course a little toward the East, that I might keep in with the Shoar; and having a fair fresh Gale of Wind, and a smooth quiet Sea, I made such Sail that I believe by the next at Three a Clock in the Afternoon, when I first made the Land, I could not be less than 150 Miles South of Sallee, quite beyond the Emperor of Morocco's Dominions, indeed of any other King thereabouts, for we saw noor

People, to Yet such was the Fright I had taken at the Moors, and the dreadful Apprehensions I had of falling into their Hands,

Anchor, that I would not stop, or go on Shoar, or come to an

the Wind continuing fair, 'till I had sail'd in that manner

five Days: And then the Wind shifting to the southward, I

concluded also that if any of our Vessels were in Chase of me,

they also would now give over; so I ventur'd to make to the

Coast, and came to an Anchor in the Mouth of a little River,

I knew not what, or where; neither what Latitude, what

Country, what Nations, or what River: 

I neither saw, or desir'd to see any People, the principal thing I wanted was fresh Water: We came into this Creek in the Evening, resolving to swim on shoar as soon as it was dark, and dis-cover the Country; but as soon as it was quite dark, we

heard such dreadful Noises of the Barking, 

Roaring, and Howling of Wild Creatures, of we knew not what Kinds, that the poor Boy was ready to die with Fear, and beg'd of me not to go on shoar till Day; well Xury said I, then I won't,

may be we may see Men by Day, who will be as bad to us as those Lyons; then we give them the shoot Gun says Xury laughing, make them run wey; such English Xury spoke by conversing among us Slaves; however I was glad to see the Boy so cheerful, and I gave him a Dram (out of our Patroon's Case of Bottles) to chear him up: 

After all, Xury's Advice was good, and I took it, we dropt our little Anchor and lay still all Night; I say still, for we but

two or three Hours we saw vast great Creatures (we knew

slept none! for in not what to call them) of many sorts, come down to the Sea-shoar and run into the Water, wallowing and washing themselves for the Pleasure of cooling themselves; 

And they made such hideous Howlings and Yellings, that I never

indeed heard the like. Xury 25 s dreadfully frighted, and indeed so was I too; but we were both more frighted when we heard one of these I mighty Creatures come swimming towards our Boat, we could not see him, but we might hear him by his blowing

to be a monstrous, huge and furious Beast; 

Xury said it was a Lyon, and it might be so for ought I know; but poor Xury cryed to me to weigh the Anchor and row away; no says I, Xury, we can slip our Cable with the Buoy to it and go off

to Sea, they cannot follow us far; I had no sooner said so,

but I perceiv'd the Creature (whatever it was) within Two

Oars Length, which something surprized me; however

I immediately stept to the Cabbin-door, and taking up my

Gun fir'd at him, upon which he immediately turn'd about

and swam towards the Shoar again.

But it is impossible to describe the horrible Noises, and

hideous Cryes and Howlings, that were raised as well upon

the Edge of the Shoar, as higher within the Country; upon

the Noise or Report of the Gun, a Thing I have some

Reason to believe those Creatures had never heard before:

This Convinc'd me that there was no going on Shoar for us

in the Night upon that Coast, and how to venture on Shoar

in the Day was another Question too; for to have fallen into

the Hands of any of the Savages, had been as bad as to have

fallen into the Hands of Lyons and Tygers; at least we were

equally apprehensive of the Danger of it.

Be that as it would, we were oblig'd to go on Shoar some-

where or other for Water, for we had not a Pint left in the

Boat; when or where to get to it was the Point: Xury said,

if I would let him go on Shoar with one of the Jarrs, he

would find if there was any Water and bring some to me.

I ask'd him why he would go? Why I should not go and he

stay in the Boat? The Boy answer'd with so much Affection

that made me love him ever after. Says he, If wild Mans

come, they eat me, you go wey. Well, Xury, said I, we will both

go, and if the wild Mans come we will kill them,  They shall Eat neither of us; so I gave Xury a piece of 

Rusk-bread to Eat and a Dram out of our Patroon's Case of Bottles which I mentioned before; and we hal'd the Boat in as near the Shoar as we thought was proper, and so waded on Shoar, carrying nothing but our Arms and two Jarrs for Water.

coming of Canoes with Savages down the River; but the

I did not care to go out of Sight of the Boat, fearing the

Boy seeing a low Place about a Mile up the Country rambled

me, to it; and by and by I saw him come running towards

I thought he was pursued by some Savage, or frighted with

some wild Beast, and I run forward towards him to help him,

but when I came nearer to him, I saw something hanging

over his Shoulders which was a Creature that he had shot,

like a Hare but different in Colour, and longer Legs, however

we were very glad of it, and it was very good Meat; but the

great Joy that poor Xury came with, was to tell me he had

found good Water and seen no wild Mans.

ROBINSON CRUSOE

But we found afterwards that we need not take such Pains

for Water, for a little higher up the Creek where we were,

we found the Water fresh when the Tide was out, which

flowed but a little way up; so we filled our Jarrs and feasted

on the Hare we had killed, and prepared to go on our Way,

having seen no Foot-steps of any humane Creature in that

part of the Country.

As I had been one Voyage to this Coast before, I knew

very well that the Islands of the Canaries, and the Cape de

Verd Islands also, lay not far off from the Coast. But as I

had no Instruments to take an Observation to know what

Latitude we were in, and did not exactly know, or at least

remember what Latitude they were in; I knew not where to

look for them, or when to stand off to Sea towards them;

otherwise I might now easily have found some of these

Islands. But my hope was, that if I stood along this Coast till

I some of their Vessels upon their usual Design of Trade,

find that would relieve and take us in.

By the best of my Calculation, that Place where I now was must be that country, Which lying between the Emperor of inhabited, except by wild Beasts; the Negroes having aban-don'd it and gone farther South for fear of the Moors; and the Moors not thinking it worth inhabiting, by reason of its Barrenness; and indeed both forsaking it because of the prodigious Numbers of Tygers, Lyons, Leopards and other furious Creatures which harbour there; so that the Moors use it for their Hunting only, where they go like an Army, two or three thousand Men at a time; and indeed for near an hundred Miles together upon this Coast, we saw nothing but a wast uninhabited Country, by Day; and heard nothing but Howlings and Roaring of wild Beasts, by Night.

Once or twice in the Day time, I thought I saw the Pico of Teneriffe, being the high top of the Mountain Teneriffe in the Canaries; and had a great mind to venture out in hopes of reaching thither; but having tried twice I was forced in again by contrary Winds, the Sea also going too high for my little Vessel, so I resolved to pursue my first

Design and keep along the Shoar.