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in the vacant place between my two fortifications, in the inside of the last, and in the outside of the first and as there was a door or entrance there into my cave, I made a formal framed door-case, and a door to it of boards, and set it up in the passage, a little within the entrance; and causing the door to open on the inside, I barred it up in the night, taking in my ladders too; so that Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost wall, without making so much noise in getting over, that it must needs awaken me; for my first wall had now a complete roof over it of long poles, covering all my tent, and leaning up to the side of the hill, which was again laid cross with small sticks instead of laths, and then thatched over a great thickness with the rice straw, 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 attemped on the outside, would not have opened at all, but would have fallen down, and made a great noise; and as to weapons, I took them all into my side every night.

But I needed none of all this precaution; for never man had a more faithful, loving, sincere servant, than Friday was to me; without passions, sullenness, or designs; perfectly obliging and engaging; his very affections were tied to me, like those of a child to a father; and I dare say, he would have sacrificed his life for the saving mine, upon any occasion whatsoever the many testimonies he gave me of this put it out of doubt; and soon convinced me, that I needed to use no precautions as to my safety on his account.

This frequently gave me occasion 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 so great a part of the

world of his creatures, the best uses to which their faculties and the powers of their souls are adapted; yet that he has bestowed upon them the same powers, the same reason, the same affections, the same sentiments of kindness and obligation, the same passions and resentments of wrongs, the same sense of gratitude, sincerity, fidelity, and all the capacities of doing good, and receiving good, that he has given to us; and that when he pleases to offer them occasions of exerting these, they are as ready, nay more ready, to apply them to the right uses for which they were bestowed, than we are. And this made me very melancholy sometimes, in reflecting, as the several occasions presented, how mean a use we make of all these, even though we have these powers enlightened by the great lamp of instruction, the Spirit of God, and by the knowledge of his word, added to our understanding; and why it has pleased God to hide the like saving knowledge from so many millions of souls, who, if I might judge by this poor savage, would make a much better use of it than we did.

From hence I sometimes was led too far to invade the sovereignty of Providence; and, as it were, arraign the justice of so arbitrary a disposition of things, that should hide that light from some, and reveal it to others, and yet expect a like duty from both: but I shut it up, and checked my thoughts with this conclusion: first, that we do not know by what light and law these should be condemned; but that as God was necessarily, and by the nature of his being, infinitely holy and just, so it could not be, but that if these creatures were all sentenced to absence from himself, it was on account of sinning against that light, which, as the scripture says, was a law to themselves, and by such rules as their consciences would acknowledge to be just, though the foundation

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was not discovered to us: and, secondly, that still, as we are all clay in the hand of the potter, no vessel could to him, say Why hast thou formed me thus ?" But to return to my new companion: I was greatly delighted with him, and made it my business to teach him everything that was proper to make him useful, handy, and helpful; but especially to make him speak, and understand me when I spake: and he was the aptest scholar that ever was; and particularly was so merry, so constantly diligent, and so pleased when he could but understand me, or make me understand him, that it was very pleasant to me to talk to him. And now my life began to be so easy, that I began to say to myself, that could I but have been safe from more savages, I cared not if I was never to remove from the place where I lived.

CHAP. XV.

I am at great pains to instruct Friday respecting my abhorrence of the cannibal practices of the savages-he is amazed at the effects of the gun, and considers it an intelligent being begins to talk English tolerably-a dialogue-I instruct him in the knowledge of religion, and find him very apt-he describes to me some white men who had come to his country and still lived there.

AFTER I had been two or three days returned to my castle, I thought, that in order to bring Friday off from his horrid way of feeding, and from the relish of a cannibal's stomach, I ought to let him taste other flesh; so I took him out with me one morning to the woods: I went, indeed, intending to kill a kid out of my own flock, and bring it home and dress it; but as I was going, I saw a she-goat lying down in the shade, and two young kids sitting by her. I catched hold of Friday: "Hold," said I, "stand still;" and made signs to him not to stir. Immediately I presented my piece, shot, and killed one of the kids. The poor creature, who had at a distance indeed seen me kill the savage his enemy, but did not know, or could imagine how it was done, was sensibly surprised, trembled, and shook, and looked so amazed, that I thought he would have sunk down: he did not see the kid I had shot at, or perceive I had killed it, but ripped up his waistcoat to feel if he was not wounded; and, as I found, presently thought I was resolved to kill him: for he came and kneeled down to me, and embracing my knees, said a great many things I did not under

stand; but I could easily see that his meaning was to pray me not to kill him.

I soon found a way to convince him that I would do him no harm; and taking him up by the hand, laughed at him, and pointing to the kid which I had killed, beckoned to him to run and fetch it, which he did; and while he was wondering and looking to see how the creature was killed, I loaded my gun again, and by and by I saw a great fowl, like a hawk, sit upon a tree within shot, so, to let Friday understand a little what I would do, I called him to me again, pointing at the fowl, which was indeed a parrot, though I thought it had been a hawk; I say, pointing to the parrot, and to my gun, and to the ground under the parrot, to let him see I would make him fall, I made him understand that I would shoot and kill that bird; accordingly I fired, and bid him look, and immediately he saw the parrot fall: he stood like one frighted again, notwithstanding all that I had said to him; and I found he was the more amazed, because he did not see me put anything into the gun; but thought there must be some wonderful fund of death and destruction in that thing, able to kill man, beast, bird, or anything near or far off; for the astonishment this created in him was such, as could not wear off for a long time; and I believe, if I would have let him, he would have worshipped me and my gun: as for the gun itself, he would not so much as touch it for several days after; but would speak to it, and talk to it, as if it had answered him, when he was by himself; which, as I afterwards learnt of him, was to desire it not to kill him,

Well: after his astonishment was a little over at this, I pointed to him to run and fetch the bird, I had shot, which he did, but stayed some time; for the parrot, not being quite dead, had fluttered a