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第3章 无人小村

　　All this went on as I expected; and they told me, especially WillAtkins, who now seemed to speak for the rest, that they loved theirwives as well as if they had been born in their own native country,and would not leave them on any account whatever; and they didverily believe that their wives were as virtuous and as modest, anddid, to the utmost of their skill, as much for them and for theirchildren, as any woman could possibly do: and they would not partwith them on any account. Will Atkins, for his own particular,added that if any man would take him away, and offer to carry himhome to England, and make him captain of the best man-of-war in thenavy, he would not go with him if he might not carry his wife andchildren with him; and if there was a clergyman in the ship, hewould be married to her now with all his heart.

ee tothemselves, their fright was over, and they saw no savages forseveral years after.

　　"Free from vices, free from care,Age has no pain, and youth no snare."

hough I had notthe letter till I got to London, several years after it waswritten, that they went on but poorly; were discontented with theirlong stay there; that Will Atkins was dead; that five of theSpaniards were come away; and though they had not been muchmolested by the savages, yet they had had some skirmishes withthem; and that they begged of him to write to me to think of thepromise I had made to fetch them away, that they might see theircountry again before they died.

　　In the month of May I began to make all ready to pack up; and, as Iwas doing this, it occurred to me that, seeing all these peoplewere banished by the Czar to Siberia, and yet, when they camethere, were left at liberty to go whither they would, why they didnot then go away to any part of the world, wherever they thoughtfit: and I began to examine what should hinder them from makingsuch an attempt. But my wonder was over when I entered upon thatsubject with the person I have mentioned, who answered me thus:"Consider, first, sir," said he, "the place where we are; and,secondly, the condition we are in; especially the generality of thepeople who are banished thither. We are surrounded with strongerthings than bars or bolts; on the north side, an unnavigable ocean,where ship never sailed, and boat never swam; every other way wehave above a thousand miles to pass through the Czar's owndominion, and by ways utterly impassable, except by the roads madeby the government, and through the towns garrisoned by his t

　　I told him their case and mine differed exceedingly; that they werecast upon the shore without necessaries, without supply of food, orpresent sustenance till they could provide for it; that, it wastrue, I had this further disadvantage and discomfort, that I wasalone; but then the supplies I had providentially thrown into myhands, by the unexpected driving of the ship on the shore, was sucha help as would have encouraged any creature in the world to haveapplied himself as I had done. "Seignior," says the Spaniard, "hadwe poor Spaniards been in your case, we should never have got halfthose things out of the ship, as you did: nay," says he, "weshould never have found means to have got a raft to carry them, orto have got the raft on shore without boat or sail: and how muchless should we have done if any of us had been alone!" Well, Idesired him to abate his compliments, and go on with the history oftheir coming on shore, where they landed. He told me theyunhappily landed at a place where there were people

their game.

　　I was now in quite a different climate from my beloved island,where I never felt cold, except when I had my ague; on thecontrary, I had much to do to bear any clothes on my back, andnever made any fire but without doors, which was necessary fordressing my food, &c. Now I had three good vests, with large robesor gowns over them, to hang down to the feet, and button close tothe wrists; and all these lined with furs, to make themsufficiently warm. As to a warm house, I must confess I greatlydislike our way in England of making fires in every room of thehouse in open chimneys, which, when the fire is out, always keepsthe air in the room cold as the climate. So I took an apartment ina good house in the town, and ordered a chimney to be built like afurnace, in the centre of six several rooms, like a stove; thefunnel to carry the smoke went up one way, the door to come at thefire went in another, and all the rooms were kept equally warm, butno fire seen, just as they heat baths in England. By this means wehad

　　To conclude: having stayed near four months in Hamburgh, I camefrom thence by land to the Hague, where I embarked in the packet,and arrived in London the 10th of January 1705, having been absentfrom England ten years and nine months. And here, resolving toharass myself no more, I am preparing for a longer journey than allthese, having lived seventy-two years a life of infinite variety,and learned sufficiently to know the value of retirement, and theblessing of ending our days in peace.